
Absolute Zero - jqm
http://www.damninteresting.com/absolute-zero-is-0k
======
Stratoscope
I've complained about changing titles in the past, but here's a case where the
submitted title ("Absolute Zero") doesn't hold a candle to the original title:

ABSOLUTE ZERO IS 0K

Much, _much_ better. 0K?

~~~
pbhjpbhj
Punnery and funny titles are probably contrary to HN ethos?

In any case the thrust of the article appears to be the race to be the first
to produce liquid helium; that could easily have been incorporated if the HN
editor wanted to make the title better.

Personally I'd favour an editorial subtitle for cases where the HN editors
deem the title to be less useful.

------
Jun8
I didn't knwo about this site, a true find: the writing and witticisms are
fantastic, e.g.

"As [sic] unspecified assistant with quick reflexes reversed the helium valve,
but he turned it either the wrong way or too far, because instead of halting
the flow of helium, he caused it all to be vented into the laboratory. Dewar's
notes do not indicate whether a high-pitched apology was offered."

(Although some proofreading would have been useful.)

~~~
ars
"All that remained to liquefy was hydrogen--an odorless, colorless gas which
tends to turn into a universe if left alone for a prolonged period."

~~~
chad_oliver
Also:

"A chunk of helium ice would behave as a single, solid, oversized, and
stupefyingly slippery atom, which may be capable of passing ghost-like through
certain materials. But that's another matter altogether."

~~~
jkn
And

 _Onnes hastened to make observations with the small container of -271°C fluid
before it all evaporated away. He found it had a lower surface tension than
any previously observed liquid, and just 1 /8th the density of water. The
modest amount of the stuff he had been able to collect behaved very curiously
in general, flowing with strange characteristics and evading easy observation
as if enveloped in an SEP field._

~~~
fahadkhan
Excellent I glossed over this one as I didn't know what SEP was. I maybe wrong
but if it [http://www.acronymfinder.com/Someone-
Else's-Problem-(SEP).ht...](http://www.acronymfinder.com/Someone-
Else's-Problem-\(SEP\).html) its brilliant.

~~~
mattzito
It's a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy reference:

[http://hitchhikers.wikia.com/wiki/Somebody_Else's_Problem_fi...](http://hitchhikers.wikia.com/wiki/Somebody_Else's_Problem_field)

------
Someone
_" The municipality of Leiden has made objections as to my working with
condensed gases and has not been content with asking that additional means of
precaution are taken, but is gone so far to claim in August last that my
cryogenic laboratory be removed from the city!"_

Kamerlingh Onnes' laboratory was built in the space that was created in 1806
when over 15,000 kg of gunpowder stored in a ship exploded, killing 151 people
and destroying over 200 houses
([http://www.pieterskerk.com/en/explore/19e-eeuw/1807/](http://www.pieterskerk.com/en/explore/19e-eeuw/1807/)

That must have made the Leiden city council more cautious when hearing about
potential explosions in this laboratory.

------
DrStalker
It's worth pointing out that it's possible to get below absolute zero:
[http://www.mpg.de/6776082/negative_absolute_temperature](http://www.mpg.de/6776082/negative_absolute_temperature)

It's a bit of a definitional thing; once you get that cold measuring how fast
atomes move is less useful than looking at enthalpy and entropy and the way
atoms give or receive energy.

from
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolute_zero](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolute_zero)

> It is commonly thought of as the lowest temperature possible, but it is not
> the lowest enthalpy state possible

~~~
ars
That's a terrible article you've linked to.

And it's not really a negative temperature anyway, it's more of a notational
thing, not an actual negative temperature.

~~~
madaxe_again
Potato potato... Negative temperature means that entropy decreases when you
add energy to a system, typically because you're approaching a local maxima
for the energy state it's in. Bose Einstein Condensates are a nice example of
this behaviour.... and it's as "real" a negative temperature as you can have.

------
cottonseed
There was a good NOVA episode, Aboslute Zero, on the race for cold:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2jSv8PDDwA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2jSv8PDDwA)

------
coldcode
Now this is real hard nosed science, rarely done today. I spent 6 years
studying chemistry and decided to switch to programming because computers
seemed unlikely to explode in my face. But I miss messing with liquid gases at
cold temperatures.

~~~
joshcanhelp
I'm also a chem -> programming convert. The explosions I didn't mind; it was
the impossibly long production cycles that got me. After a year of work, I
shelved a whole book of research notes with not so much as a mention. These
days, when I'm ready to move on, I push to Github and try something new.

~~~
ghshephard
"it was the impossibly long production cycles that got me. After a year of
work, I shelved a whole book of research notes with not so much as a mention.
"

It's funny that I have zero difficulty understanding you when you say you,
"push to Github and try something new" \- but I'm trying to grok what you mean
when you say, "long production cycles that got to me" and "shelved a whole
book of research notes with no so much as a mention" \- What was happening
when you were working in Chemistry?

~~~
clebio
No idea why the downvotes, I don't think they're warranted. This seems an
honest question. IANAC (chemist), but could guess at the answer -- imaging
trying to assemble the physical apparatus in that article: it might take weeks
or months (Onnes had a battery of assistants helping him...) just to get the
hardware in place, let alone orchestrate the cascade of liquids and gases that
eventually produces a tiny vial of the objective.

It would be something akin to building AWS from Arduinos, step-by-step, say.

~~~
ghshephard
When I read "long production cycles" \- I was wondering if the OP was talking
about the time that the chemical reactions took, or whether they were talking
about how long it takes to write up research results - without getting any
formal acknowledgment (such as in a published paper in a journal) of your
results.

------
Monkeyget
In Our Time episode regarding absolute zero :
[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01r113g](http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01r113g)

~~~
elemeno
In Our Time is a fantastic source of interesting topics, especially since all
it's past episodes are available for free on the BBC's website. With over 640
episodes it shouldn't be too hard to find something of interest!

For those not familiar with the show, the format is simple. A topic is picked
for each week and it consists of the host, Melvyn Bragg, and three experts on
that topic. The experts are then left to discuss the topic for 45 minutes with
the host only interjecting to ask questions and steer the conversation. It's
very much the pinnacle of listening to smart people talk about things that
they're interested in.

Recent episodes have covered topics as diverse as The Talmud, Photosynthesis,
States of Matter, Spartacus and Early Chinese History.

A list of episiodes can be found here -
[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qykl/episodes/player](http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qykl/episodes/player)
\- and there's links on the site to download all the episodes since 2011.

------
crash78
What technique would they have used to measure the temperatures?

------
kbart
Very well written and interesting article. I'm still laughing at this: "his
London lab was rattled by yet another minor explosion which deprived yet
another lab assistant (James Heath) of yet another eye."

~~~
mkmk
There's also this fantastic subtle pun:

"A chunk of helium ice would behave as a single, solid, oversized, and
stupefyingly slippery atom, which may be capable of passing ghost-like through
certain materials. But that's another matter altogether."

------
davidw
> If one physically scoops up a portion of the superatom, the elevated portion
> acquires more gravitational potential energy than the rest, and since this
> is not a sustainable equilibrium for the superfluid, it will flow up and out
> of its container to pull itself all back into one place

Is this actually doable/observable?

~~~
haxiomic
It is! See this this clip
[http://youtu.be/2Z6UJbwxBZI](http://youtu.be/2Z6UJbwxBZI)

------
Angostura
Beautifully written, informative and witty. I did not know about the cascade
of gasses method before now.

------
quarterwave
A discussion of the Third Law and the Nernst unattainability principle can be
found in:
[http://benthamscience.com/open/totherj/articles/V006/1TOTHER...](http://benthamscience.com/open/totherj/articles/V006/1TOTHERJ.pdf)

------
nicholassmith
This is fascinating, I really enjoy the turn of the century science stories
that come up. Big egos, big risks, fantastic results.

------
pdevr
The site has a lot of other articles that are darn interesting.

------
pistle
"ambiguous smears of quantum probabilities"

Oh phlogiston.

------
shaan7
That was awesome :)

------
rcthompson
My friend had himself cooled to absolute zero once. He was 0K.

(Source: The internet)

