• Question: what is the coldest tempreature posible?

    Asked by gissanekwh to David, Helen, Ian, rhysphillips, Sarah on 21 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: David Corne

      David Corne answered on 17 Jun 2011:

      That would be 0 on the Kelvin scale, which is about -273 on the Centigrade/Celsius scale, and -459 Fahrenheit. Temperature is a measure of how much the atoms are bouncing around. At 0 degrees K (or -273 degrees C, or -459 degrees Fahrenheit) they are absolutely still. You can’t be less bouncy than “not moving at all”, so that’s as cold as it gets. That;s the situation in theory, anyway, but I don’t think Kelvin ever encountered my wife’s feet.

    • Photo: Rhys Phillips

      Rhys Phillips answered on 17 Jun 2011:

      0 Kelvin (or -273.15 degrees celsius).

    • Photo: Helen Fletcher

      Helen Fletcher answered on 19 Jun 2011:

      The coldest temperature possible is absolute zero. This is -273.15 degrees Celsius or 0 Kelvin. This is the point where there is no vibrations in atoms.

    • Photo: Ian van der Linde

      Ian van der Linde answered on 21 Jun 2011:

      “Absolute Zero”, -273 C, which is the temperature at which molecules become absolutely still. Heat is just vibrational energy, so making things stop vibrating completeing makes them as cold as can be!

Comments