Topic: Are there any limits?

[Alieo]

RANDOM SCIENCE THOUGHTS>> Is it possible for a substance to be so cold that the atoms stop moving completely? Yes. That is Zero Kelvin. But, is it possible to achieve negative Kelvin degrees, having the atoms be set into motion with negative properties? Positive protons become negative protons, negative electrons become positive electrons and neutrons stay the same of course because they are neutral. Then, is it possible for the negative Kelvin temp to become so high that solids once again melt and then become gasses?

Then, on the other end of the spectrum, is there no end to the amount of heat produced by sped up subatomic particles? Can a substance become so hot, that its atoms move SO fast that it approaches, then surpasses, the speed of light, making itself time travel?

Just some random science thoughts I had. What do you think?

[-<WillyP>-]

First let's correct your misconception regarding heat and cold.  Heat is not the movement of atoms or sub atomic particles, it is the energy given off from the collisions of those particles. In other words friction. If one particle could exist by itself in an infinite, absolute vacuum, it could move at any speed and not produce heat as there would be no other particle to interact with.

So if we stop the movement of particles, we remove all those collisions. Therefore we have removed the source of heat, and we can say that we have chilled the substance to 0 Kelvin.  Cold is the absence of heat, if there were a such thing as negative heat it would be cold.  

If we reversed the properties of sub atomic particles and set them into motion again, they would start colliding again, and therefore produce heat again, which we would measure on a positive scale.

[Scyphi]

Furthermore, it has also been theorized that any matter that reaches zero kelvin would pretty much cease to exist, at least in any state we're familiar with, because it's part of that motion of the particles that makes matter what we understand it to be. So if it doesn't exist at zero kelvin, it's kind of hard to see what would happen if you made it any colder, assuming that's even possible (zero kelvin is pretty dang cold. Not even the expanse of space is so cold).

To answer the other question, so far as physics has discovered, there is no known way to accelerate any particle of matter to speeds faster than light.

[Kaiaatzl]

And AFAIK it's impossible so far to even get it to zero kelvin.
Absolute zero doesn't exist naturally, there's always some energy.

[Matthew]

I think Absolute Zero is similar to the speed of light in that it's theoretically impossible to achieve.

[Alieo]

In theory, I just wonder if infinity extends on several realms, as in, being so cold it's hot. We know dry ice burns. Light speed: so fast you're going backwards... in time? One big wonder I've always had on infinites is, if there was some way to find the outer stretches of the universe, would we find that it's the outer wall of the nucleus of an atom? If you zoom into an atom far enough, would we find a whole universe inside there?

[Matthew]

  We're not theoretical physicists, bro. Google it.

[Alieo]

Just pickin' your brains. See, I can think about theoretical stuff like this, but I CANNOT understand basic College Algebra for the life of me!

[Crash]

A quantum computer core has to be within about 0.2'C of absolute 0 temerature, which is impressive because the vacuum of space is only within 2 or 3 whole degrees C of it.

It should be extremely hard to get all the way there though. Surely it would be exponentially more difficult to decrease the temp the closer you got to absolute 0.

[NUMBERZero]

Just pickin' your brains. See, I can think about theoretical stuff like this, but I CANNOT understand basic College Algebra for the life of me!

this!

Can't we go infinantly past absolute 0 to -1? mmmm?
Or lightspeed 1 to lightspeed 1.1? It's true, I'm moving towards infinity by breaking the light barrier.

That's my belief. There is no limit. It's just another number.

[Scyphi]

One thing we have to keep in mind is that it's all mostly theoretical, and based on science that we only THINK we've got correct. It's quite possible that we've got it all wrong and just haven't realized it yet. That's the funny thing about science. It's based on things we have evidence that would suggest it to be true, but that doesn't mean it's correct.

if there was some way to find the outer stretches of the universe, would we find that it's the outer wall of the nucleus of an atom? If you zoom into an atom far enough, would we find a whole universe inside there?

I've wondered the same thing before, and I'm sure we aren't alone, nor the first. Unfortunately, there's just no way to test for a hypothesis such as that at this time, and we might never be in a position to do otherwise, scientifically speaking.

[Matthew]

Just pickin' your brains. See, I can think about theoretical stuff like this, but I CANNOT understand basic College Algebra for the life of me!

this!

Can't we go infinantly past absolute 0 to -1? mmmm?
Or lightspeed 1 to lightspeed 1.1? It's true, I'm moving towards infinity by breaking the light barrier.

That's my belief. There is no limit. It's just another number.

Think of it like a horizontal asymptote. You can get infinitely close, but you can never touch it. The energy required increases to infinity as you approach C.

[Alieo]

@IHateHackers: AHA! That makes sense because that's one of the things we studied in College Algebra. That is sooo true. You can get infinitely closer, but never touch.

And as for breaking the light speed realm, I don't know what would happen if you DID reach light speed, but it IS a scientific fact that the faster you travel, time slows down, so with that being said, would you eventually go BACKWARDS in time if you exceed light speed? Me thinks so.

[Matthew]

I would say you'd probably cease to observe any passing of time at all, and just be unable to accelerate any further. Or decelerate for that matter. You'd essentially be stuck in limbo. Whether it might be possible to travel through time at that point is anybody's guess.

[Scyphi]

Seeing that nobody (in the real world) has actually exceeded the speed of light, or gotten anything else to reach those speeds either, it can't really be determined what would happen.

I would imagine it would be another one of those "infinitely closer but never reaching" things, where you're constantly getting closer to traveling "backwards" through time as time slows down, but never reaching that point.

This is assuming time travel is even possible at all. If you really think through some of the complexities, the more doubt you get, and the more aware you are of the potentially catastrophic consequences that could result, making it not really worth trying.