Absolute zero

“ To attain the absolute zero in the laboratory, that is, to deprive a substance entirely of its heat, is a thermodynamical impossibility, and the most that the physicist can hope for is an indefinitely close approach to that point. The lowest steady temperature obtainable by the exhaustion of liquid hydrogen is about –262° C. (11° Abs.) ”

“ But there are in the universe exceptional regions with temperature not far removed from the absolute zero, where the physical properties of matter acquire great complexity; the ions surround themselves with complete electron systems and become the atoms of terrestrial experience. Our earth is one of these chilly places and here the strangest complications can arise. ”

“ The chemist and the physicist, often working together in the investigation of the problems lying between their two departments, have accumulated a staggering array of new facts from which the principles of their sciences have been deduced. Many new elements have been discovered, in fact nearly all called for by the periodic law; the so-called fixed gases have been liquefied, and now air in liquid form is almost a plaything; the absolute zero has been nearly reached in the boiling point of helium ”

“ We have not, and apparently cannot have, the least experimental knowledge of the properties of matter at the moment when it is subjected to pressure amounting to thousands of tons per square inch; still less can we determine the behaviour of matter at that pressure of scores of thousands of tons, to which much of the interior of the earth is at this moment subjected. Professor Dewar, in his memorable researches, has revealed to us the remarkable changes exhibited in the properties of matter when that matter has been cooled to a temperature which lies in the vicinity of absolute zero. ”

“ At the planet's surface, the total energy of an infinitesimally small portion of the gaseous mass is proportional to that mass. This amount of energy is, however, all that is available for transformation against gravitation in the ascent. But at the same time, the gravitative force on the particle, that force which resists its upward movement, is proportionately small corresponding to the small mass, so that the particle will in reality require to rise to the same altitude of 31 miles in order to completely transform its energy and attain absolute zero of temperature. ”

“ The condition which must be satisfied with reference to in order that neither the change indicated, nor the reverse, shall destroy the homogeneity of the mass, is expressed by equating the above expression to zero. But if we consider the change in the state of the mass (supposed to remain in a state of dissipated energy) to be determined by arbitrary values of of the differentials the case will be entirely different. For, if the mass ceases to be homogeneous, it will consist of two coexistent phases, and as applied to these, only of the quantities will be independent. ”

“ But when these units have been chosen, the definition of will involve the same arbitrary constant as , so that, while in any given case the numerical values of or will be entirely indefinite until the zero of energy has also been fixed for the system considered, the difference will represent a perfectly definite amount of energy, which is entirely independent of the zero of energy which we may choose to adopt. ”

“ Another thing is the conflict between the discontinuous process by which energy is radiated from the atom into the surrounding medium, and the continuous process by which it is transmitted through the surrounding medium. Relativity throws very little light on these points, but there is another point upon which it throws at least a glimmer. We find it hard to rest content with the existence of unrelated absolute constants, such as Planck’s quantum and the size of an electron, which, so far as we can see, might just as easily have had any different magnitude. ”

“ Yet it is only necessary to sacrifice the latter theorem too, as we already sacrificed the energy theorem – then we are able to define any desired apparent mass of the Lorentz electron, thus one can bring any measuring result in agreement with the relativity principle. (However, the value of zero for the apparent mass offers itself as the most simple one; like a macroscopic condenser shall obtain no increase of mass by a charge according to relativity theory.) ”

“ If, then, the value of the expression (133) for the mass considered is less when it is in the given condition than when it is in any other, the energy of the mass in its given condition must be less than in any other condition in which it has the same entropy and volume. The given condition is therefore stable. (See page 57.)
Again, if it is possible to assign such values to the constants in (133) that the value of the expression shall be zero for the given fluid mass, and shall not be negative for any phase of the same components, the given condition will be evidently not unstable. ”

“ Any substance, therefore, the parts of which are not mathematically homogeneous, though they may be apparently so, may exhibit phenomena of absorption. Also, since the order of magnitude of the coefficients is the same as that of the indices, the value of can never change sign, but must start from zero, become positive, and finally disappear. ”

“ But we have seen that , &c. are each of them zero, so that the integral is zero also for the periphractic region between the surfaces.
Case 2. If is zero over any part of the bounding surface, that part of the surface can contribute nothing to the value of , because the quantity under the integral sign is everywhere zero. Hence will remain zero if a surface fulfilling this con dition is substituted for any part of the bounding surface, provided that the remainder of the surface is all at the same potential. ”

“ Human history moves upward in circles, like an aero. The circles are at times golden, sometimes they are bloody, but all have 360 degrees. They go from 0° to 10°, 20°, 200°, 360°—and then again 0°. Yes, we have returned to zero. But for a mathematically working mind it is obvious that this zero is different: it is a perfectly new zero. We started from zero to the right and came to zero on the left. Hence instead of plus zero we are at minus zero. Do you understand?
This zero appears to me now as a silent, immense, narrow rock, sharp as a blade. ”

“ Statistical mechanics, however, asserts that when a large number of like elements are in thermal equilibrium, the average kinetic energy associated with each degree of freedom is equal to a universal constant multiplied by the absolute temperature. This “principle of equi-partition of energy” has been applied 382in various ways to obtain a radiation law. The most straightforward method is based on the equilibrium which must ensue between radiation field and material oscillators when the latter emit, on the average, as much energy as they absorb. ”

“ It is true that we have no means of ascertaining the absolute number of primitive units contained in a given mass; hence we are constrained to measure the quantity of matter by a relative measure—that is, by comparing it with an equal volume of another substance, whose density and weight we assume as the measure of other densities and weights. But does our ignorance of the absolute number of primitive units contained in a given mass interfere with their real existence? ”

“ The view I advocate is that the ether is a perfect continuum, an absolute plenum, and that therefore no rarefaction is possible. The ether inside matter is just as dense as the ether outside, and no denser. A material unit—say an electron—is only a peculiarity or singularity of some kind in the ether itself, which is of perfectly uniform density everywhere. What we "sense" as matter is an aggregate or grouping of an enormous number of such units. ”

“ If one forms the integral over the system completed in this way, one finds the value zero; for the same reason, at a stationary electric current, by which the integral of the current density vanishes over the entire current-area. ”

“ While mass and entropy are determined univocally by a unit and a number, quantity of electricity has a unit, a number and a sign, for it can be positive as well as negative. Momentum has a unit, a number and a direction in space. Elements do not have a common unit as the former magnitudes, but every element has its own unit, and there is no transition from one to another. All these magnitudes underlie a law of conservation, but to a very different degree. ”

“ We cannot, for instance, annihilate the stars or the sun or the electrons. Thus, whereas a magnitude which has been established as relative will presumably remain a relative for all time to come, the same measure of assurance can no longer be claimed for our determinations of absolute quantities. ”

“ In addition, it has recently been found that practically all of the important radiation constants like the wave-lengths of X-rays, Planck’s , the Stefan-Boltzmann constant , the Wien constant , etc., depend for their most reliable evaluation upon the value of . In a word, is increasingly coming to be regarded, not only as the most fundamental of physical or chemical constants, but also the one of most supreme importance for the solution of the numerical problems of modern physics. ”

“ For smaller or hotter bodies, radiation repulsion overpowers mutual gravitation; and it increases with the fourth power of their absolute temperature. The gravitational attractive force between particles is exceedingly small; and that between two atoms or two electrons is negligibly small, even though they be within molecular distance of each other. ”

“ Take, now, a step beyond the luminiferous ether—conceive a matter as much more rare than the ether, as this ether is more rare than the metal, and we arrive at once (in spite of all the school dogmas) at a unique mass—an unparticled matter. For although we may admit infinite littleness in the atoms themselves, the infinitude of littleness in the spaces between them is an absurdity. There will be a point—there will be a degree of rarity, at which, if the atoms are sufficiently numerous, the interspaces must vanish, and the mass absolutely coalesce. ”

“ From the expression for the atom of energy or quantum , where is a constant and is the frequency of the radiation, it is obvious that there exist as many different types of quanta of energy as there exist different frequencies of radiation. There is no one unique type of quantum of energy in nature. That which is universal is not the quantum of energy , but the constant . It can be shown that Planck’s constant is not a mere number; it represents some definite abstract mathematical entity, and that entity is action. ”

“ Have you ever seen a negasphere strike a planet?
The negasphere is built of negative matter. This material—or, rather, antimaterial—is in every respect the exact opposite of the everyday matter of normal space. Instead of electrons, its ultimate units are positrons—the "Dirac Holes" in an infinity of negative energy. To it a push, however violent, is a pull; a pull is a push. When negative matter strikes positive, then, there is no collision in the usual sense of the word. One electron and one positron neutralize each other and disappear; giving rise to two quanta of extremely hard radiation. ”

“ Classical science had recognised that the closer the electrons and protons were packed together in the nucleus, the smaller would be the electric energy of the atom, but it appeared impossible to account for the deficiency in mass. The theory of relativity by its identification of mass and energy gave an obvious solution to the problem. The deficiency in mass of the helium atom was to be ascribed to the loss of energy radiated under the form of heat and light when the electrons and protons were being packed together. ”

“ Therefore, since the quantity may be shewn experimentally not to be always zero, and since the quantity is not capable of being experimentally tested, it is better for these speculations to assume that it is the latter quantity which invariably vanishes. ”

“ At the high temperature inside a star the battering of the particles by one another, and more especially the collision of the ether waves (X-rays) with atoms, cause electrons to be broken off and set free. These free electrons form the third population to which I have referred. For each individual the freedom is only temporary, because it will presently be captured by some other mutilated atom; but meanwhile another electron will have been broken off somewhere else to take its place in the free population. ”

“ The atoms of negative electricity which we call electrons, are found to exist in a free state, independent of all material atoms, and not having any properties in common with them. In this state they possess certain dimensions in space, and are endowed with a certain inertia, which has suggested the idea of attributing to them a corresponding mass. "Experiments have shown that their dimensions are very small compared with those of material molecules, and that their mass is only a small fraction, not exceeding one one-thousandth of the mass of an atom of hydrogen. ”

“ We know that it consists of one planet only, one single negative electron revolving round the minute central sun, the positive nucleus. We know also that the mass of the electron is two thousand times as small as that of the hydrogen atom. It follows, as we can calculate, that the positive nucleus must have a radius two thousand times smaller than that of the electron. Now, the experiments of the English physicists have proved that the large Alpha particles of the radium emanation can pass through hundreds of thousands of atoms without being appreciably diverted by the positive nucleus. ”