13.8 billion years ago, a mysterious singularity had a big bang, and the universe was born. The universe after its birth has time, space, and the concept of temperature. I believe everyone is familiar with temperature. We are dealing with it all the time, so do we really understand temperature?
In the eyes of many people, temperature is nothing unusual. Isn’t it the hot and cold conditions we feel? If you think so, you are wrong. The external manifestation of temperature is indeed hot and cold, but the internal mystery is not that simple.
After mankind entered the era of science and technology, the exploration and research of temperature has also entered a new stage. Through continuous research, we have discovered many secrets of temperature. It is also known that the temperature has a theoretical lower limit, which is absolute zero.
We all know that the shape of an object will change with changes in the temperature of the turnover environment. When the temperature of the object reaches a certain height, it will appear gaseous, and when it drops to a certain level, it will become liquid or solid. Liquid is a manifestation of matter. It does not have too many mysteries, while solids are different. It is the focus of scientists’ research and exploration.
Matter has a freezing point. The so-called freezing point refers to the temperature at which an object can be transformed from a liquid state to a solid state. The most common freezing substance in our daily life is water. Under a standard atmospheric pressure, the freezing point of water is only zero degrees Celsius, which is a relatively high temperature.
In addition to water, many other substances have very low freezing points. For example, under standard atmospheric pressure, the freezing point of liquid nitrogen reaches minus 196 degrees Celsius, which is a low temperature beyond our common sense. Other gases also have their own freezing points, which are all very low. If they are pressurized, the freezing point will increase.
The lowest temperature of the universe is theoretically absolute zero, which is a low temperature beyond our imagination, so what will the behavior of objects be under absolute zero? It will be a very magical sight. I believe many of my friends are very curious. If absolute zero can be achieved, what will happen to light?
We all know that photons are also a very magical species in the universe. From the moment of birth, the speed can reach 300,000 kilometers per second, which is the limit speed of objects under the theory of relativity. In normal time and space, nothing can stop the advancement and propagation of photons, no matter in high temperature environment or low temperature environment, light can also shuttle freely.
So is there really nothing in the universe that can restrain the spread of light? The real universe does not, so is there such a thing in theory? The answer is yes. Absolute zero can freeze the light and prevent it from spreading forward. Why is it so? To unravel this mystery, we must first have a general understanding of the nature of temperature.
So what is the nature of temperature? Simply put, it is the velocity of the particle. As long as there is motion, so does the temperature. Without movement, there will be no temperature. The temperature produced by this state of no movement is theoretically absolute zero, which is minus 273.15 degrees Celsius. If expressed by a thermodynamic temperature scale, it is 0K.
The faster the movement of matter and the denser the matter, the higher the temperature. Conversely, the lower the material movement speed, the sparser, and the lower the temperature. So is there a completely vacuum in the universe? Of course not. The seemingly empty area is not really “vacuum”. In the empty space of the universe, there will always be individual particles, which bring movement and temperature.
Even with the existence of a particle, the temperature cannot reach absolute zero. In the real world, there is no substance that is absolutely still. For a stone that looks motionless, its internal molecules are actually in motion, just moving. The relative speed is slower, so the temperature of the stone is lower.
The world that mankind currently knows, and the universe that he knows, both have energy and heat, which are the source of temperature. The energy is conserved, and can only be transformed between different substances, and will not completely disappear. Therefore, the entire space will never completely lose its temperature, and absolute zero is also an unattainable extreme value.
But if it really reaches absolute zero, something terrible and magical will happen. Everything in the entire universe will be frozen, including the omnipresent photon, don’t look at the speed of the photon can reach 300,000 kilometers per second, but in front of absolute zero, it will only be obediently restrained and still.
So what will the light under absolute zero look like? Will it be as beautiful and bright as ice crystals? Many people may think that once the light emitted from the light source is frozen at absolute zero, it will become a beautiful and bright icicle. Is this really the case? of course not.
The essence of photon is also a kind of gauge boson. When it reaches absolute zero, the gauge boson will assume a gas, superfluid state, so the frozen light looks more like a gas instead of Solid icicles. Of course, this super-liquid state will be very beautiful, but behind this beauty is a terrible end.
Absolute zero means that movement will no longer occur, and the density of matter will also return to zero. In a world without density and motion, all physical laws will no longer work, gravity will disappear, and the entire universe will come to an end.
Low temperature represents freezing, and when it reaches the theoretical limit of absolute zero, it is no longer a simple end, but a radical change in the nature and state of matter. The whole world will also become beyond our cognition, so it is a theoretical limit value that will not exist in the real three-dimensional space-time.
Seeing this, many people may be relieved that we don’t have to worry about the end of the world with absolute zero in the future. If you are so optimistic, you are wrong. In the three-dimensional time and space of our existence, absolute zero will not appear. It is only a theoretical limit. But what if it is not in three-dimensional space-time, but in four-dimensional, five-dimensional and other high-dimensional worlds? I believe many of my friends know that scientists have also put forward the conjecture of multidimensional space, believing that the universe is composed of multiple dimensions and that human beings only live in a three-dimensional world.
Different dimensional spaces, physical laws, etc. may be very different. The temperature limit of three-dimensional space may not be a limit in four-dimensional, five-dimensional and other spaces. For example, the limit of the speed of light may be easily broken in a four-dimensional space, where matter can move faster than the speed of light, and the same absolute zero may not be the limit in other high-dimensional spaces.
Therefore, once the conjecture of multidimensional space is scientifically confirmed in the future, many theoretical limit data may be rewritten. What is believed to be impossible now may happen in the future. If absolute zero can be achieved in four-dimensional space, then the use of technological means to reduce dimensionality and bring absolute zero to the three-dimensional universe will have very serious consequences serious.