News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Hitting Absolute Zero Has Been Declared Mathematically Impossible.

Re:Hitting Absolute Zero Has Been Declared Mathematically Im... by I_am_neo on Wednesday March 15, 2017 @01:48PM (#13878171)
So "if", and this is a big if, we did cool a sample to absolute zero by some yet to be discovered process, it's total energy should shrink to nothing and as so the sample should shrink to nothing and disappear?
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Hitting Absolute Zero Has Been Declared Mathematically Im... by idlewords on Wednesday March 15, 2017 @01:56PM (#13878234)
No. Quantum issues aside, a system at absolute zero would still have energy in the form of its mass. You can think of mass as 'frozen' energy.

Note that in some systems it's possible to have negative temperatures, which are "hotter" than infinite temperatures. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_temperature

Thermodynamics is cool!

[ Parent | on HN ]