1 00:00:08,760 --> 00:00:13,520 Speaker 1: Hey, Daniel, what's your least favorite topic in physics? Oh, man, 2 00:00:13,680 --> 00:00:16,760 Speaker 1: don't make me say something negative about physics. Well, now 3 00:00:16,800 --> 00:00:20,560 Speaker 1: I really want to know. Fine, Fine, it's thermodynamics. You 4 00:00:20,560 --> 00:00:24,400 Speaker 1: don't like thermodynamics. But it's such a hot field, Daniel, 5 00:00:25,200 --> 00:00:28,920 Speaker 1: or cold, depending on the state. It's just too hard 6 00:00:29,000 --> 00:00:31,840 Speaker 1: to get my mind around. There's so many particles involved, 7 00:00:31,880 --> 00:00:34,599 Speaker 1: you know, So you don't know much about thermodynamics, then 8 00:00:35,360 --> 00:00:37,600 Speaker 1: I wouldn't say I know that much. Really, like you 9 00:00:37,640 --> 00:00:40,400 Speaker 1: know zero about it? You're getting close. What if we 10 00:00:40,440 --> 00:00:44,760 Speaker 1: talk about absolute zero? That's a reasonable approximation of how 11 00:00:44,840 --> 00:01:04,440 Speaker 1: much I like thermodynamics. I am or handmade cartoonists and 12 00:01:04,520 --> 00:01:08,000 Speaker 1: the creator of PhD comics. Hi, I'm Daniel. I'm a 13 00:01:08,040 --> 00:01:11,920 Speaker 1: particle physicist, and I'm not a lover of thermodynamics. Now, 14 00:01:11,959 --> 00:01:14,679 Speaker 1: welcome to our podcast, Daniel and Jorge Explain the Universe, 15 00:01:14,800 --> 00:01:17,680 Speaker 1: a production of I Heart Radio in which we find 16 00:01:17,720 --> 00:01:21,120 Speaker 1: all the amazing and crazy things about the universe, the 17 00:01:21,240 --> 00:01:24,680 Speaker 1: extreme things, the fast things, the hot things, the cold things, 18 00:01:24,720 --> 00:01:27,200 Speaker 1: and we explain them all to you. That's right. We 19 00:01:27,240 --> 00:01:30,560 Speaker 1: explore all of the hot topics in physics and science 20 00:01:30,840 --> 00:01:34,080 Speaker 1: out there in the universe, but also the coldest thing sometimes, 21 00:01:34,360 --> 00:01:36,400 Speaker 1: that's right. We try to touch on the hot topics 22 00:01:36,400 --> 00:01:38,399 Speaker 1: and we try to be cool at the same time. 23 00:01:39,640 --> 00:01:43,080 Speaker 1: We are. We are pretty cool for a physics podcast. 24 00:01:43,160 --> 00:01:48,000 Speaker 1: We're definitely cool. Yeah, all all three of them were 25 00:01:48,040 --> 00:01:51,640 Speaker 1: probably the coolest, but yeah. This is part of a 26 00:01:51,720 --> 00:01:56,160 Speaker 1: series of podcast episodes about the extremes of the universe. 27 00:01:56,680 --> 00:02:01,280 Speaker 1: Should we cue the heavy metal sounds, Danny Wild Stallions, 28 00:02:01,560 --> 00:02:03,560 Speaker 1: where we're gonna get Bill and Ted on the podcast, 29 00:02:03,680 --> 00:02:08,320 Speaker 1: Oh we should build or Ted just before their reunion tour. 30 00:02:08,680 --> 00:02:10,720 Speaker 1: We like talking about the crazy bits of the universe 31 00:02:10,720 --> 00:02:13,560 Speaker 1: because where the extremes are sort of where you learn 32 00:02:13,639 --> 00:02:16,359 Speaker 1: the most about the universe. How hot can things get? 33 00:02:16,520 --> 00:02:19,720 Speaker 1: What is the densest thing, what is the strongest magnetic field? 34 00:02:19,919 --> 00:02:23,399 Speaker 1: And that's why we explored all those topics in previous episodes. Yeah, 35 00:02:23,440 --> 00:02:26,400 Speaker 1: it really makes you kind of push or stretch the 36 00:02:26,480 --> 00:02:28,919 Speaker 1: boundaries of your mind, you know, to think of the 37 00:02:28,960 --> 00:02:32,520 Speaker 1: hottest things, the dancest things, the brightest things. Those are 38 00:02:32,560 --> 00:02:35,840 Speaker 1: all things we've covered in other episodes, and today we'll 39 00:02:35,880 --> 00:02:38,960 Speaker 1: be talking about another one of those extremes in the universe. 40 00:02:39,400 --> 00:02:47,240 Speaker 1: So today on the podcast, we'll be talking about what 41 00:02:47,480 --> 00:02:51,600 Speaker 1: is the coldest place in the universe. Instead of heavy 42 00:02:51,600 --> 00:02:56,560 Speaker 1: metal guitar, we should just have a cold wind or something. No, 43 00:02:56,760 --> 00:02:59,280 Speaker 1: we should have the theme music from Frozen, of course, 44 00:03:01,400 --> 00:03:04,919 Speaker 1: come on, just let it go, Just let it go. No. 45 00:03:05,080 --> 00:03:07,560 Speaker 1: I love the extremes of the universe because they remind 46 00:03:07,720 --> 00:03:10,160 Speaker 1: us that where we live is not usual. And this 47 00:03:10,280 --> 00:03:12,320 Speaker 1: is this big lesson in physics that you can't just 48 00:03:12,400 --> 00:03:14,679 Speaker 1: look the stuff around you and then try to generalize 49 00:03:14,680 --> 00:03:17,639 Speaker 1: to the whole universe. You can't assume that everything around 50 00:03:17,680 --> 00:03:21,280 Speaker 1: you is typical, that things on other planets and other 51 00:03:21,360 --> 00:03:24,080 Speaker 1: parts of the universe follow the same rules. We've often 52 00:03:24,120 --> 00:03:26,400 Speaker 1: made that mistake in physics and then learned that the 53 00:03:26,480 --> 00:03:29,280 Speaker 1: universe works in totally different ways. And we learned that 54 00:03:29,320 --> 00:03:32,160 Speaker 1: when we look far and wide, we explore the extremes, 55 00:03:32,200 --> 00:03:35,160 Speaker 1: we look for the hottest, the fastest, the brightest, the 56 00:03:35,240 --> 00:03:38,600 Speaker 1: weirdest stuff. That's where lessons lie, that's where we find 57 00:03:38,640 --> 00:03:41,320 Speaker 1: new physics. And so today we'll be talking about what 58 00:03:41,480 --> 00:03:46,280 Speaker 1: is the coldest place in the universe, And um, I 59 00:03:46,360 --> 00:03:49,280 Speaker 1: hear it that it's probably not what most people expect. 60 00:03:49,520 --> 00:03:54,160 Speaker 1: I hear it's not Nancy Pelosi's cold Stare that was 61 00:03:54,160 --> 00:03:57,120 Speaker 1: pretty chilling though, But yeah, this is a topic in 62 00:03:57,280 --> 00:04:01,640 Speaker 1: statistical and thermodynamics, and I to admit this is not 63 00:04:01,800 --> 00:04:04,480 Speaker 1: my number one favorite field of physics. Not because I 64 00:04:04,520 --> 00:04:06,640 Speaker 1: don't think it's awesome. It is really awesome, and the 65 00:04:06,720 --> 00:04:09,600 Speaker 1: kind of things that people have developed are really pretty cool, 66 00:04:09,920 --> 00:04:13,200 Speaker 1: but it's it can be sort of frustrating to think about, 67 00:04:13,280 --> 00:04:16,840 Speaker 1: and I particularly find it um sort of intimidating as 68 00:04:16,880 --> 00:04:20,880 Speaker 1: a topic to talk about coldness or or just temperature 69 00:04:20,880 --> 00:04:23,839 Speaker 1: and thermodynamics in general. Well, just thinking about like systems 70 00:04:23,839 --> 00:04:26,159 Speaker 1: of particles. I mean, let me reaf you. And as 71 00:04:26,200 --> 00:04:30,600 Speaker 1: an example, the opening paragraph of the Statistical Mechanics book 72 00:04:30,680 --> 00:04:35,320 Speaker 1: from grad school. Oh please, no, I know it doesn't 73 00:04:35,320 --> 00:04:39,080 Speaker 1: sound riveting, but whole lover a moment, all right, all right. 74 00:04:39,520 --> 00:04:43,400 Speaker 1: Ludwind Boltzmann, who spent much of his life studying statistical mechanics, 75 00:04:43,800 --> 00:04:48,120 Speaker 1: died in nineteen o six by his own hand. Paul Aaronfest, 76 00:04:48,480 --> 00:04:52,640 Speaker 1: carrying on his work, died similarly in three Now it 77 00:04:52,800 --> 00:04:57,400 Speaker 1: is our turn to study statistical mechanics. That's that's the 78 00:04:57,400 --> 00:05:00,360 Speaker 1: scene right there. You know, the legends of the field 79 00:05:00,600 --> 00:05:04,040 Speaker 1: killed themselves thinking about this, So now let's study it. 80 00:05:04,240 --> 00:05:06,320 Speaker 1: Do you think because it was just such an intense 81 00:05:06,400 --> 00:05:10,000 Speaker 1: topic or that, um, it's a dangerous thing to study. 82 00:05:11,480 --> 00:05:14,160 Speaker 1: I don't think. I don't think the topic itself is dangerous. 83 00:05:14,160 --> 00:05:17,280 Speaker 1: Something you're like summoning demons from below that infest your 84 00:05:17,279 --> 00:05:20,239 Speaker 1: mind or anything. But it is hard. It's tricky stuff. 85 00:05:20,279 --> 00:05:23,479 Speaker 1: You have to understand. You know, how gases move and 86 00:05:23,480 --> 00:05:27,360 Speaker 1: how they flow in terms of these tiny, little microscopic particles, 87 00:05:27,600 --> 00:05:31,200 Speaker 1: and so there's a lot of complicated statistics and difficult mathematics. 88 00:05:31,279 --> 00:05:33,960 Speaker 1: It's amazing what they have achieved. And one of the 89 00:05:33,960 --> 00:05:38,680 Speaker 1: greatest accomplishments, of course, is understanding like our experience of temperature. 90 00:05:38,720 --> 00:05:40,680 Speaker 1: You know, you touch something it feels hot, you touch 91 00:05:40,760 --> 00:05:43,600 Speaker 1: something feels cold, understand that in terms of what that 92 00:05:43,680 --> 00:05:46,840 Speaker 1: means for the microscopic particles. That connection kind of makes 93 00:05:46,839 --> 00:05:50,240 Speaker 1: you uncomfortable. Yeah, well it's it's not makes me uncomfortable. 94 00:05:50,240 --> 00:05:53,120 Speaker 1: It's just sort of difficult sometimes to think about what 95 00:05:53,160 --> 00:05:56,400 Speaker 1: it means mathematically. But it's also awesome because it lets 96 00:05:56,480 --> 00:05:59,960 Speaker 1: you understand how things around you arise from the most 97 00:06:00,040 --> 00:06:02,919 Speaker 1: you know, those microscopic particles. We'll dig into into that 98 00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:06,120 Speaker 1: in a moment, but you know, this, this fascinating extension 99 00:06:06,240 --> 00:06:09,040 Speaker 1: is like how cold can things get? How much can 100 00:06:09,080 --> 00:06:11,680 Speaker 1: you push that? You know, if coldness really is about 101 00:06:11,960 --> 00:06:15,520 Speaker 1: the motion of the particles inside something slowing down, then 102 00:06:15,560 --> 00:06:17,760 Speaker 1: like can you push it as far as you can go? 103 00:06:17,880 --> 00:06:20,840 Speaker 1: And how far exactly can the universe take you on 104 00:06:20,880 --> 00:06:23,200 Speaker 1: the temperature scale. Yeah, So part of what we'll be 105 00:06:23,200 --> 00:06:28,200 Speaker 1: talking about today is this concept of absolute zero, as 106 00:06:28,320 --> 00:06:32,279 Speaker 1: in that is theoretically possibly the coldest that you could 107 00:06:32,360 --> 00:06:36,000 Speaker 1: possibly ever get in the universe. And so the question 108 00:06:36,120 --> 00:06:38,080 Speaker 1: is there such a place out there in the universe? 109 00:06:38,160 --> 00:06:40,159 Speaker 1: Can there be such a place out there in the universe? 110 00:06:40,839 --> 00:06:43,960 Speaker 1: That's the question we'll be tackling today. And so I 111 00:06:44,040 --> 00:06:46,159 Speaker 1: was wondering if people had heard about this phrase. It 112 00:06:46,160 --> 00:06:48,760 Speaker 1: seems sort of common and awesome. You know, it's got 113 00:06:48,800 --> 00:06:52,400 Speaker 1: a nice zing too. It's got pizzazz right as most 114 00:06:52,400 --> 00:06:55,000 Speaker 1: physics terms don't. And just to be clear, this is 115 00:06:55,000 --> 00:07:00,839 Speaker 1: not an endorsement for a vodka drink. It also not 116 00:07:00,839 --> 00:07:03,800 Speaker 1: not an endorsement for vodka, though we're not anti vodka 117 00:07:03,839 --> 00:07:08,120 Speaker 1: on this show. Are you saying are you saying call us? 118 00:07:08,240 --> 00:07:11,840 Speaker 1: Are you saying to absolute callus? Well, we'll totally take 119 00:07:11,880 --> 00:07:16,120 Speaker 1: a case of your vodka. We're saying absolute zero about vodka. Right, 120 00:07:16,120 --> 00:07:18,680 Speaker 1: we're not saying anything positive. We're not saying anything negative 121 00:07:18,680 --> 00:07:22,280 Speaker 1: about vodka. But maybe the podcast would be funnier if 122 00:07:24,840 --> 00:07:27,840 Speaker 1: sample there is that drunk history show, which is pretty funny. 123 00:07:27,880 --> 00:07:30,120 Speaker 1: I don't think there's a drunk physics show yet, So yeah, 124 00:07:30,320 --> 00:07:32,440 Speaker 1: put that on the list of projects. We should start 125 00:07:32,480 --> 00:07:39,320 Speaker 1: a new series of episodes physics. Daniel and Jorge slur 126 00:07:39,520 --> 00:07:42,560 Speaker 1: their way through the universe. But which one would be drunk? 127 00:07:42,560 --> 00:07:45,600 Speaker 1: Do you or me? The audience should be drunk so 128 00:07:45,640 --> 00:07:48,080 Speaker 1: they can understand us, or so they can like our jokes. 129 00:07:49,840 --> 00:07:53,000 Speaker 1: Daniel and Jorge drinking game. Every time Daniel says that's right, 130 00:07:53,120 --> 00:07:55,640 Speaker 1: or every time Jorge says bananas, somebody takes a shot. 131 00:07:58,080 --> 00:08:00,000 Speaker 1: I can see this being all the rage in college 132 00:08:00,200 --> 00:08:03,200 Speaker 1: Fra Trinity houses. Speaking of colleges, I walked around campus 133 00:08:03,200 --> 00:08:05,360 Speaker 1: that you see Irvine, and I asked people what they 134 00:08:05,440 --> 00:08:08,040 Speaker 1: knew about absolute zero and if they thought it was 135 00:08:08,080 --> 00:08:10,960 Speaker 1: just sort of a crazy theoretical idea or something we 136 00:08:11,000 --> 00:08:14,520 Speaker 1: could possibly achieve. So, as usual, Daniel went around and 137 00:08:14,560 --> 00:08:18,280 Speaker 1: asked the question what is absolute zero? So before you 138 00:08:18,280 --> 00:08:20,200 Speaker 1: hear the answers, think about it for a second. If 139 00:08:20,240 --> 00:08:22,960 Speaker 1: someone approached you out of the blue and ask you 140 00:08:23,000 --> 00:08:26,280 Speaker 1: what absolute zero is, what would you answer. Here's what 141 00:08:26,320 --> 00:08:29,960 Speaker 1: people had to say, absolute zero. It's something that I 142 00:08:30,000 --> 00:08:35,680 Speaker 1: can't recalltop my head. I've heard it before. Temperature zero kelvin. 143 00:08:36,400 --> 00:08:38,680 Speaker 1: Is it possible for anything to actually get to absolute zero? 144 00:08:39,160 --> 00:08:41,800 Speaker 1: I don't think so. I believe that's like a measure 145 00:08:41,840 --> 00:08:45,199 Speaker 1: of temperature. I think if we were measuring in kelvin, 146 00:08:45,600 --> 00:08:48,600 Speaker 1: that's like the lowest anything could ever go. Can something 147 00:08:48,640 --> 00:08:52,760 Speaker 1: actually get to absolute zero? Uh? Theoretically yes, but physically 148 00:08:52,760 --> 00:08:55,480 Speaker 1: we haven't gone there yet. Of some understanding, I actually 149 00:08:55,559 --> 00:08:59,200 Speaker 1: don't know, but it sounds somewhat familiar. Absolute zero is 150 00:08:59,760 --> 00:09:03,640 Speaker 1: zero kelvin. It's the coldest possible temperatures, eat, death of 151 00:09:03,679 --> 00:09:06,080 Speaker 1: the universe, or however you want to say it. So 152 00:09:06,679 --> 00:09:11,839 Speaker 1: is it possible for something to physically achieved zero? Uh? So. 153 00:09:12,280 --> 00:09:16,920 Speaker 1: I believe it is extremely difficult to get to absolute 154 00:09:17,280 --> 00:09:21,400 Speaker 1: zero properly, but people have achieved some number of desmal 155 00:09:21,440 --> 00:09:24,800 Speaker 1: places very very close to this. But I think that 156 00:09:24,920 --> 00:09:28,920 Speaker 1: some of the matter based effects can be realized at 157 00:09:29,400 --> 00:09:33,160 Speaker 1: maybe higher temperatures and capsolute zero, like the helium three 158 00:09:33,200 --> 00:09:37,319 Speaker 1: and things like that. Superfluidity, Yes, superfluid. It's the coldest 159 00:09:37,320 --> 00:09:40,440 Speaker 1: possible temperature when everything stops moving and we've never gotten there. 160 00:09:41,080 --> 00:09:45,079 Speaker 1: So is it physically possible to get something absolute zero? Uh? 161 00:09:45,440 --> 00:09:48,360 Speaker 1: I don't know. I'm the wrong person as zero on 162 00:09:48,440 --> 00:09:53,240 Speaker 1: the Kelvin scale just no movement, no energy. Is that 163 00:09:53,280 --> 00:09:57,320 Speaker 1: physically achieved? Just theoretical? I believe theoretic here, So it's 164 00:09:57,360 --> 00:09:59,720 Speaker 1: impossible to get to epsoide zero. I don't think so. 165 00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:02,800 Speaker 1: All right, some pretty good answers. I thought, no mentions 166 00:10:02,800 --> 00:10:05,760 Speaker 1: of vodka. Yeah, I guess vodka is pretty expensive for 167 00:10:05,840 --> 00:10:09,720 Speaker 1: college students. Well, you see, Irvine does have the reputation 168 00:10:09,720 --> 00:10:12,760 Speaker 1: of being sort of the nerdy you see campus, like, 169 00:10:12,960 --> 00:10:14,240 Speaker 1: that's where you go if you want to really be 170 00:10:14,320 --> 00:10:17,120 Speaker 1: serious about your studies. I think, Santa Barbara, you might 171 00:10:17,200 --> 00:10:19,840 Speaker 1: to get different answers. All right, so you're saying, um, 172 00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:22,319 Speaker 1: that you're not surprised then that people a lot of 173 00:10:22,320 --> 00:10:25,600 Speaker 1: people knew what absolute zero was, and some people evedn't 174 00:10:25,720 --> 00:10:28,079 Speaker 1: talked about the heat death of the universe and how 175 00:10:28,080 --> 00:10:30,880 Speaker 1: it's sort of theoretical as well. Yeah, these were some 176 00:10:30,960 --> 00:10:33,240 Speaker 1: seriously good answers, and I think there's a lot of 177 00:10:33,320 --> 00:10:36,000 Speaker 1: interest there so I think, um, let's dig into it 178 00:10:36,040 --> 00:10:38,360 Speaker 1: and talk to people about what absolute zero is and 179 00:10:38,400 --> 00:10:41,679 Speaker 1: how cold we can actually get and if we can 180 00:10:41,800 --> 00:10:44,480 Speaker 1: find it somewhere in the universe. I think the answer 181 00:10:44,559 --> 00:10:47,040 Speaker 1: is might be pretty surprising. I guess maybe let's just 182 00:10:47,040 --> 00:10:49,360 Speaker 1: start with what is coldness? Like, what does it mean 183 00:10:49,400 --> 00:10:51,920 Speaker 1: for something to be cold at all? Yeah, it's sort 184 00:10:51,920 --> 00:10:57,120 Speaker 1: of fascinating. Um, whether like coldness or heat is a thing? Right, Like, 185 00:10:57,640 --> 00:10:59,480 Speaker 1: if heat is a thing, then coldness is sort of 186 00:10:59,520 --> 00:11:01,600 Speaker 1: like the sense of that thing. But if you were 187 00:11:01,679 --> 00:11:04,480 Speaker 1: sort of like an early person thinking about thermodynamics, it 188 00:11:04,480 --> 00:11:06,960 Speaker 1: could have been that like coldness was a thing and 189 00:11:07,040 --> 00:11:09,640 Speaker 1: heat was the opposite of it. But it turns out 190 00:11:09,640 --> 00:11:12,079 Speaker 1: that like heat is a thing, heat is the motion 191 00:11:12,280 --> 00:11:16,040 Speaker 1: of particles. We were talking earlier about this connection between 192 00:11:16,240 --> 00:11:19,200 Speaker 1: your experience of temperature and that what's happening for the 193 00:11:19,280 --> 00:11:22,760 Speaker 1: microscopic particles, and that's really what it is. Temperature is 194 00:11:22,760 --> 00:11:25,559 Speaker 1: a measurement of sort of the speed of how fast 195 00:11:25,600 --> 00:11:28,000 Speaker 1: these particles are moving or shaking. That sounds like a 196 00:11:28,040 --> 00:11:31,360 Speaker 1: really deep question, like is heat the absence of coldness 197 00:11:31,520 --> 00:11:34,840 Speaker 1: or is coldness the absence of heat? Yeah? What is 198 00:11:34,880 --> 00:11:39,560 Speaker 1: the sound of one thermometer measuring. Yeah, it's a it's 199 00:11:39,559 --> 00:11:41,839 Speaker 1: a fascinating question. But it turns out that heat is 200 00:11:41,880 --> 00:11:43,960 Speaker 1: the thing, right. Heat is the motion of particles and 201 00:11:44,040 --> 00:11:47,199 Speaker 1: coldness is the absence of that motion, and so there's 202 00:11:47,240 --> 00:11:50,199 Speaker 1: all sorts of fascinating consequences of that. And we really 203 00:11:50,200 --> 00:11:53,000 Speaker 1: got into this when we talked about um we had 204 00:11:53,000 --> 00:11:55,840 Speaker 1: an episode about temperature about and I got really confused 205 00:11:55,840 --> 00:11:59,000 Speaker 1: about how you know, you were saying temperature is actually 206 00:11:59,040 --> 00:12:02,520 Speaker 1: not like it's a thing, but it's sort of an 207 00:12:02,640 --> 00:12:05,320 Speaker 1: average thing. Like you can't measure the temperature of a 208 00:12:05,360 --> 00:12:08,520 Speaker 1: single particle. That's really weird to me. Yeah, in our 209 00:12:08,559 --> 00:12:10,800 Speaker 1: episode about what is the hottest thing in the universe, 210 00:12:11,000 --> 00:12:12,800 Speaker 1: we got into that because there's a lot of weird 211 00:12:12,840 --> 00:12:15,640 Speaker 1: stuff that's like really hot things that are three d 212 00:12:15,760 --> 00:12:18,319 Speaker 1: million degrees, but if you went inside them you would 213 00:12:18,320 --> 00:12:21,599 Speaker 1: freeze to death because they're really dilute um. So the 214 00:12:21,720 --> 00:12:24,400 Speaker 1: concept of temperature is very confusing, especially as you get 215 00:12:24,440 --> 00:12:26,760 Speaker 1: two very high energies. And you're right, temperature is not 216 00:12:26,840 --> 00:12:29,080 Speaker 1: the property of a single particle to property of a 217 00:12:29,200 --> 00:12:31,520 Speaker 1: system of particles. That has to do with the essentially 218 00:12:31,559 --> 00:12:34,040 Speaker 1: the average motion. And I got really hung up on 219 00:12:34,200 --> 00:12:36,080 Speaker 1: like um. So you can't take the temperature of a 220 00:12:36,120 --> 00:12:38,800 Speaker 1: single particle. Can you take the temperature of two particles? 221 00:12:40,520 --> 00:12:43,480 Speaker 1: You can't take the temperature of a single particle. In theory, 222 00:12:43,720 --> 00:12:46,520 Speaker 1: you can only take the temperature of an infinite number 223 00:12:46,559 --> 00:12:50,000 Speaker 1: of particles. But in practice a large number of particles 224 00:12:50,040 --> 00:12:55,079 Speaker 1: approximated infinite number pretty quickly, So to definitely not a billion, 225 00:12:55,200 --> 00:13:01,559 Speaker 1: probably a million, almost certainly a thousand, maybe circumstances. It's 226 00:13:01,679 --> 00:13:04,080 Speaker 1: one of these fuzzy things, you know, like when does 227 00:13:04,120 --> 00:13:07,360 Speaker 1: the practical match the theoretical. It's like saying, like, what's 228 00:13:07,400 --> 00:13:09,920 Speaker 1: the death of an ocean? You know, you can't apply 229 00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:11,959 Speaker 1: that to a single water molecule. You have to apply 230 00:13:12,120 --> 00:13:15,840 Speaker 1: to a huge number of water particles. It's a concept 231 00:13:15,840 --> 00:13:19,640 Speaker 1: that only exists for a system of particles, bunch of things, Yeah, 232 00:13:19,720 --> 00:13:23,280 Speaker 1: not for an individual. Yeah. And so for coldness, it's 233 00:13:23,360 --> 00:13:25,520 Speaker 1: the it's not the emotion of the stuff, it's the 234 00:13:25,600 --> 00:13:28,440 Speaker 1: lack of motion. So I guess maybe coldness is not 235 00:13:28,600 --> 00:13:31,160 Speaker 1: a thing. Then you're saying heat. Heat is a thing 236 00:13:31,200 --> 00:13:34,200 Speaker 1: because you can measure it, but coldness is just like 237 00:13:34,280 --> 00:13:37,120 Speaker 1: if the thing is not there, there's no motion of 238 00:13:37,120 --> 00:13:42,079 Speaker 1: the particles. Yeah, coldness is to heat, what like silence 239 00:13:42,280 --> 00:13:44,760 Speaker 1: is to noise. Right, is silence a thing or it's 240 00:13:44,840 --> 00:13:47,560 Speaker 1: the lack of noise In the same way, coldness is 241 00:13:47,600 --> 00:13:50,040 Speaker 1: the lack of heat. You know, heat is the motion 242 00:13:50,080 --> 00:13:52,760 Speaker 1: of these particles. They can move, they can spin, they 243 00:13:52,800 --> 00:13:56,360 Speaker 1: can vibrate. All that stores energy, right, and that energy 244 00:13:56,520 --> 00:13:59,520 Speaker 1: is the heat of the system. And as that energy 245 00:13:59,600 --> 00:14:02,880 Speaker 1: leaves that the object gets colder and colder, those little 246 00:14:02,880 --> 00:14:05,400 Speaker 1: particles move less and less. I feel like we're asking 247 00:14:05,440 --> 00:14:07,600 Speaker 1: some really deep questions, Daniel. Well, this is what I 248 00:14:07,600 --> 00:14:10,120 Speaker 1: love about physics, you know. It touches on really simple, 249 00:14:10,160 --> 00:14:12,640 Speaker 1: basic d questions. And this is why we're always bumping 250 00:14:12,640 --> 00:14:17,000 Speaker 1: into sort of philosophy questions because physics is important. And 251 00:14:17,040 --> 00:14:19,360 Speaker 1: so if you think about you know, this is like 252 00:14:19,400 --> 00:14:21,960 Speaker 1: the motion of particles. You can imagine the particles like 253 00:14:22,200 --> 00:14:24,400 Speaker 1: moving more and more and more and getting hotter and 254 00:14:24,400 --> 00:14:27,280 Speaker 1: hotter and hotter, and that's sort of continuing off to infinity. Right, 255 00:14:27,720 --> 00:14:30,160 Speaker 1: there's no limit to how much these particles can shake 256 00:14:30,280 --> 00:14:33,240 Speaker 1: or wiggle or whatever. But the other direction, as things 257 00:14:33,320 --> 00:14:36,720 Speaker 1: get colder and colder, things move less and less. It's 258 00:14:36,760 --> 00:14:39,360 Speaker 1: fascinating if there is sort of a negative limit there 259 00:14:39,400 --> 00:14:42,720 Speaker 1: that you approach like zero motion like silence, right, Like 260 00:14:42,800 --> 00:14:48,320 Speaker 1: you can have zero silence, but you can't have negative silence. Yeah, 261 00:14:48,360 --> 00:14:52,880 Speaker 1: you can't have negative silence or like super silence. You know, 262 00:14:53,000 --> 00:14:56,480 Speaker 1: you can't have like extra extra silence a silence. You 263 00:14:56,480 --> 00:14:59,160 Speaker 1: can't have negative noise. I guess, yeah, yeah, And that's 264 00:14:59,280 --> 00:15:01,880 Speaker 1: what it is for amperature, right, it's um. Once you 265 00:15:01,920 --> 00:15:05,440 Speaker 1: had zero, you can't get any colder. It's that's what 266 00:15:05,520 --> 00:15:08,600 Speaker 1: it's called absolute zero. Yeah. Absolute zero is the idea 267 00:15:09,160 --> 00:15:11,960 Speaker 1: that maybe you have a bunch of particles together and 268 00:15:11,960 --> 00:15:15,400 Speaker 1: then they just stopped moving, that they formed like a 269 00:15:15,440 --> 00:15:18,480 Speaker 1: perfect crystal. There's no entry be left at all. There's 270 00:15:18,480 --> 00:15:21,480 Speaker 1: only one way to arrange the system. There's no motion, 271 00:15:21,560 --> 00:15:25,120 Speaker 1: there's no rotation, there's no vibration. So that's the idea 272 00:15:25,320 --> 00:15:28,560 Speaker 1: of it, right, that every particle in your system is 273 00:15:28,600 --> 00:15:33,400 Speaker 1: not moving at all. Zero right now, kinetic energy, if 274 00:15:33,480 --> 00:15:36,520 Speaker 1: you could achieve that, then that would be absolute zero. 275 00:15:36,800 --> 00:15:39,400 Speaker 1: And it's it's really a fascinating topic if you look 276 00:15:39,400 --> 00:15:41,800 Speaker 1: in the history of this concept, like people start first 277 00:15:41,800 --> 00:15:44,840 Speaker 1: started thinking like huh, could this be possible? Even before 278 00:15:44,880 --> 00:15:47,600 Speaker 1: people try to make things super duper cold, to try 279 00:15:47,640 --> 00:15:49,480 Speaker 1: to achieve it. They started to think about is it 280 00:15:49,560 --> 00:15:53,160 Speaker 1: theoretically possible? And one thing they noticed was they were like, 281 00:15:53,440 --> 00:15:55,760 Speaker 1: let's look at how things change as a function temperature. 282 00:15:55,760 --> 00:15:59,280 Speaker 1: And you know, different substances like have different melting boiling points, 283 00:15:59,280 --> 00:16:02,600 Speaker 1: and that depends on the substance. Water melts or boils 284 00:16:02,600 --> 00:16:06,680 Speaker 1: at different temperatures than you know, oil or other substances. Right, Like, 285 00:16:06,720 --> 00:16:09,000 Speaker 1: let's just play around with sticking things in the freezer 286 00:16:09,000 --> 00:16:11,520 Speaker 1: and see what happens. Yeah, but all of these things 287 00:16:11,560 --> 00:16:15,680 Speaker 1: all point towards the same zero point, right, water or 288 00:16:15,800 --> 00:16:19,520 Speaker 1: hydrogen or oil or whatever, they all have the same 289 00:16:19,720 --> 00:16:23,320 Speaker 1: same absolute zero. This concept of an absolute zero is universal. 290 00:16:23,320 --> 00:16:26,560 Speaker 1: Would be the same temperature for every substance at zero. 291 00:16:26,720 --> 00:16:29,560 Speaker 1: Like it's you're saying, it's just when everything, no matter 292 00:16:30,040 --> 00:16:32,280 Speaker 1: what substance you are or what you're made out of, 293 00:16:32,480 --> 00:16:35,800 Speaker 1: you at some point might or could reach zero. Precisely, 294 00:16:36,240 --> 00:16:39,520 Speaker 1: it doesn't vary depending on what you are, Like when 295 00:16:39,520 --> 00:16:42,920 Speaker 1: you're freezing or boiling. It's like it's it's there for everybody, 296 00:16:42,960 --> 00:16:46,840 Speaker 1: including you and me and everyone listening. Because those other 297 00:16:46,880 --> 00:16:49,520 Speaker 1: transitions like melting and boiling, those have to do with 298 00:16:49,600 --> 00:16:53,240 Speaker 1: like how the molecules are sticking together or not sticking together, whatever. 299 00:16:53,360 --> 00:16:55,520 Speaker 1: So they're really dependent on the structure in the shape 300 00:16:55,520 --> 00:16:58,880 Speaker 1: of those molecules. That's why water and other materials boil 301 00:16:58,920 --> 00:17:01,400 Speaker 1: at different temperatures. But when it comes to not moving 302 00:17:01,400 --> 00:17:03,760 Speaker 1: at all, it doesn't really matter what shape you are 303 00:17:03,960 --> 00:17:05,800 Speaker 1: or what size you are, and you're just doing nothing, 304 00:17:05,960 --> 00:17:08,080 Speaker 1: and everybody does nothing in the same way. Right, what 305 00:17:08,080 --> 00:17:13,560 Speaker 1: about absolute vodka? Would that also have an absolute zero? Absolutely? Absolutely? 306 00:17:15,520 --> 00:17:19,399 Speaker 1: All right? So that's that's coldness, and that's absolute zero. 307 00:17:19,480 --> 00:17:23,359 Speaker 1: It's this theoretical limit of when everything is no longer moving. 308 00:17:23,640 --> 00:17:28,840 Speaker 1: And so let's get into have we reached absolute zero 309 00:17:28,960 --> 00:17:31,080 Speaker 1: and we if we can even get there, or if 310 00:17:31,080 --> 00:17:33,040 Speaker 1: there are places in the universe that are that have 311 00:17:33,119 --> 00:17:36,280 Speaker 1: absolute zero temperature. But first let's take a quick break, 312 00:17:49,480 --> 00:17:55,280 Speaker 1: all right, Daniel, how cold are physicists or how cold 313 00:17:55,520 --> 00:17:59,400 Speaker 1: have physicists gone? We're a pretty cool group of dudes. Um. 314 00:18:00,400 --> 00:18:05,719 Speaker 1: But there's this, really there's a really fun sort of history, 315 00:18:05,960 --> 00:18:09,080 Speaker 1: a race to the bottom or everybody was wondering like 316 00:18:09,200 --> 00:18:12,760 Speaker 1: how cold can you get something? And people were developing 317 00:18:12,800 --> 00:18:15,920 Speaker 1: technology try to make stuff colder and colder, and it's 318 00:18:15,920 --> 00:18:18,080 Speaker 1: not that easy, right, You want to make something really cold, 319 00:18:18,200 --> 00:18:20,920 Speaker 1: you need something else really cold. And so to make 320 00:18:21,000 --> 00:18:25,479 Speaker 1: something colder than anything you've ever seen before, take some cleverness, right, 321 00:18:25,480 --> 00:18:28,199 Speaker 1: because you're trying to take away To make something colder, 322 00:18:28,359 --> 00:18:31,280 Speaker 1: you have to take away energy, right, And to take 323 00:18:31,320 --> 00:18:34,240 Speaker 1: away energy you have to kind of like grab it, right. 324 00:18:34,320 --> 00:18:37,000 Speaker 1: You need something that is colder to take it away 325 00:18:37,000 --> 00:18:40,000 Speaker 1: from the thing you're trying to cool down. So it's 326 00:18:40,040 --> 00:18:41,919 Speaker 1: a it's a tough problem, I guess. Yeah, if you 327 00:18:41,920 --> 00:18:43,760 Speaker 1: want to freeze your ice cream, you put it in 328 00:18:43,760 --> 00:18:46,280 Speaker 1: the freezer, and the freezer the stuff around the ice 329 00:18:46,320 --> 00:18:49,080 Speaker 1: cream and the freezer is colder, so the heat leaks 330 00:18:49,119 --> 00:18:51,800 Speaker 1: out of that ice cream um into this stuff in 331 00:18:51,800 --> 00:18:53,879 Speaker 1: the freezer warms up the air and the freezer a 332 00:18:53,920 --> 00:18:55,600 Speaker 1: little bit. It doesn't come back. And I think it's 333 00:18:55,640 --> 00:18:57,800 Speaker 1: the key. Like if you leave ice cream out in 334 00:18:58,800 --> 00:19:02,040 Speaker 1: outside of the freezer, there's you know, there's energy going 335 00:19:02,080 --> 00:19:03,760 Speaker 1: into it and out of it, into it and out 336 00:19:03,760 --> 00:19:07,080 Speaker 1: of it, but mostly going into it. But in the freezer, 337 00:19:07,080 --> 00:19:10,720 Speaker 1: it just leaves the ice cream and it doesn't come back, Yeah, 338 00:19:10,760 --> 00:19:12,879 Speaker 1: because the freezer is actively cooling it down. But you 339 00:19:12,880 --> 00:19:14,639 Speaker 1: can also do it in a cooler, right, say, just 340 00:19:14,960 --> 00:19:17,520 Speaker 1: pack ice cream surrounded by really cold stuff and a 341 00:19:17,520 --> 00:19:20,080 Speaker 1: cooler so it's all sealed off. Then if the stuff 342 00:19:20,080 --> 00:19:23,119 Speaker 1: around the ice cream is colder, then they'll tend to equilibrate. 343 00:19:23,160 --> 00:19:25,040 Speaker 1: The heat will flow out of the ice cream and 344 00:19:25,080 --> 00:19:28,560 Speaker 1: into the colder stuff. So classic way to make something 345 00:19:28,640 --> 00:19:31,600 Speaker 1: colder is to put it next to something that's even 346 00:19:31,640 --> 00:19:34,119 Speaker 1: colder than it. Right, But if you're trying to make 347 00:19:34,160 --> 00:19:37,000 Speaker 1: the coldest thing ever, you can't do that because you 348 00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:39,520 Speaker 1: would need something even colder. And so the race to 349 00:19:39,680 --> 00:19:43,240 Speaker 1: reach the coldest temperature started a long time ago. It 350 00:19:43,320 --> 00:19:47,920 Speaker 1: seems you wrote here that it started in the eighteen hundreds. Yeah, 351 00:19:48,000 --> 00:19:50,399 Speaker 1: people were trying to make stuff really cold. Back in 352 00:19:50,520 --> 00:19:54,520 Speaker 1: eight It was Michael Faraday. He's a famous guy in physics, 353 00:19:54,720 --> 00:19:57,919 Speaker 1: and he achieved a temperature of negative a hundred and 354 00:19:57,960 --> 00:20:02,399 Speaker 1: thirty degrees celsius. That's a hundred and forty three degrees calvin. 355 00:20:02,440 --> 00:20:05,719 Speaker 1: That's really cold. It's pretty impressive for the eight hundreds, 356 00:20:05,760 --> 00:20:10,399 Speaker 1: isn't it. I mean they didn't even have telephones. They 357 00:20:10,400 --> 00:20:14,720 Speaker 1: couldn't call each other and brag about how I got 358 00:20:14,760 --> 00:20:17,639 Speaker 1: some ice cream on guys coming over. Nope, you have 359 00:20:17,720 --> 00:20:21,320 Speaker 1: to send a letter. Yeah, the first thing they tried 360 00:20:21,359 --> 00:20:24,360 Speaker 1: to do is to take gases from the air, hydrogen 361 00:20:24,480 --> 00:20:27,119 Speaker 1: or oxygen and stuff like this, and to liquefy it 362 00:20:27,400 --> 00:20:30,359 Speaker 1: to make it, you know, liquefied or even solid. He 363 00:20:30,440 --> 00:20:32,320 Speaker 1: was the first one to do that, to liquify any gas. 364 00:20:32,760 --> 00:20:35,680 Speaker 1: And then thirty years later some French guys whose names 365 00:20:35,680 --> 00:20:38,040 Speaker 1: I can't pronounce because I can't read French very well, 366 00:20:38,359 --> 00:20:40,720 Speaker 1: they liquefied air. They got it down to negative a 367 00:20:40,840 --> 00:20:44,640 Speaker 1: hundred and ninety five degrees celsius. That's just seventy eight 368 00:20:44,680 --> 00:20:47,320 Speaker 1: degrees kelvin, right, and for those of us who are 369 00:20:47,359 --> 00:20:55,240 Speaker 1: in fahrenheit, that means um also a negative large number exactly. 370 00:20:55,240 --> 00:20:57,520 Speaker 1: And you might wonder, like, how are these guys doing this, 371 00:20:57,600 --> 00:21:00,560 Speaker 1: how are they making this cold? Well, the the basic 372 00:21:00,600 --> 00:21:03,280 Speaker 1: trick they were doing is they're lowering the pressure, because 373 00:21:03,320 --> 00:21:06,119 Speaker 1: these gases are complicated things, and if you lower the 374 00:21:06,160 --> 00:21:08,840 Speaker 1: pressure of a gas, it ends up cooling down. If 375 00:21:08,840 --> 00:21:11,800 Speaker 1: you keep like the amount of gas constant and use 376 00:21:12,400 --> 00:21:14,760 Speaker 1: and you somehow stretch it or lower the pressure, then 377 00:21:14,760 --> 00:21:18,080 Speaker 1: it automatically gets colder. Right, yeah, precisely. And that's the 378 00:21:18,119 --> 00:21:20,639 Speaker 1: kind of stuff that always melted my brain, you know, 379 00:21:20,720 --> 00:21:22,520 Speaker 1: like you have the same amount of frozer brain and 380 00:21:22,600 --> 00:21:25,639 Speaker 1: gave your brain freeze or melted your brain, both at 381 00:21:25,640 --> 00:21:30,399 Speaker 1: the same time. And that's why. But then we have 382 00:21:30,440 --> 00:21:34,200 Speaker 1: a series of guys making advancements. In eighty three, somebody 383 00:21:34,240 --> 00:21:39,240 Speaker 1: liquefied oxygen down to fifty five degrees kelvin and then 384 00:21:39,320 --> 00:21:44,520 Speaker 1: in door liquefied hydrogen, and of course he's famous for 385 00:21:44,560 --> 00:21:47,760 Speaker 1: inventing the doer, right, which is this like cold flask. 386 00:21:47,960 --> 00:21:50,439 Speaker 1: You've probably seen a lot of laboratories that's down to 387 00:21:50,520 --> 00:21:54,200 Speaker 1: twenty one degrees kelvin. So they're little by little, sort 388 00:21:54,200 --> 00:21:56,520 Speaker 1: of one up in each other, you know, getting colder 389 00:21:56,520 --> 00:22:00,560 Speaker 1: and colder because they use different gases or did they 390 00:22:00,600 --> 00:22:03,320 Speaker 1: just have better techniques. They just sort of expanded on 391 00:22:03,359 --> 00:22:06,280 Speaker 1: this technique of figuring out ways to suck heat out 392 00:22:06,320 --> 00:22:10,080 Speaker 1: by expanding the volume and then pulling out the coldest parts, 393 00:22:10,119 --> 00:22:12,920 Speaker 1: and then expanding that and then pulling out the coldest parts. 394 00:22:12,960 --> 00:22:16,240 Speaker 1: So it's all about this sort of experimental chemistry cleverness. 395 00:22:16,480 --> 00:22:19,159 Speaker 1: And this is way before you know, any sort of 396 00:22:19,200 --> 00:22:22,280 Speaker 1: advanced technologies, right. So these guys were just kind of 397 00:22:22,280 --> 00:22:27,520 Speaker 1: like you know, experimenting with um like flasks and boilers 398 00:22:27,520 --> 00:22:31,000 Speaker 1: and things like that, right, pretty basic, you know chemistry setups. Yeah, 399 00:22:31,040 --> 00:22:34,760 Speaker 1: they had you know, glass tubes and rubber valves and 400 00:22:34,800 --> 00:22:37,160 Speaker 1: this kind of stuff, and they had no complicated technology 401 00:22:37,200 --> 00:22:39,639 Speaker 1: at all. Um And then it was in nineteen o 402 00:22:39,800 --> 00:22:43,480 Speaker 1: eight they finally liquefied helium that brought them down to 403 00:22:44,080 --> 00:22:48,040 Speaker 1: four degrees kelvin and then even further down to one 404 00:22:48,080 --> 00:22:50,720 Speaker 1: and a half degrees calvin. And this guy who did it, 405 00:22:50,800 --> 00:22:52,760 Speaker 1: he won the Nobel Prize for that. It was like 406 00:22:52,800 --> 00:22:55,879 Speaker 1: such an achievement to get such cold temperatures. That was 407 00:22:55,920 --> 00:22:58,560 Speaker 1: like the forefront of exploration because he went from like 408 00:22:58,600 --> 00:23:01,840 Speaker 1: twenty calvin to one kelvin. Yeah, that's a huge jump. Yeah, 409 00:23:01,880 --> 00:23:04,040 Speaker 1: that's a pretty big change fractutionally, and it gets you 410 00:23:04,080 --> 00:23:06,639 Speaker 1: pretty close to absolute zero. Did they have a sense 411 00:23:06,680 --> 00:23:08,679 Speaker 1: that there was an absolute zero? You know? Do you 412 00:23:08,680 --> 00:23:11,640 Speaker 1: know what I mean? Like, did they know that at 413 00:23:11,680 --> 00:23:14,560 Speaker 1: some point you would hit rock bottom? Yeah? They had 414 00:23:14,600 --> 00:23:18,040 Speaker 1: this idea because they were studying sort of the temperature 415 00:23:18,080 --> 00:23:20,919 Speaker 1: as a function of pressure and volume and all this stuff, 416 00:23:21,320 --> 00:23:24,240 Speaker 1: and you know, these temperature curves all point in the 417 00:23:24,280 --> 00:23:28,360 Speaker 1: same direction, and no matter what gas you're talking about, helium, hydrogen, oxygen, 418 00:23:28,720 --> 00:23:31,920 Speaker 1: all those lines were sort of converging at the same 419 00:23:32,000 --> 00:23:35,159 Speaker 1: point at absolute zero. So they had the idea that 420 00:23:35,200 --> 00:23:37,200 Speaker 1: this existed, and they were sort of pushing to see 421 00:23:37,200 --> 00:23:39,639 Speaker 1: how close they could get. But they were all wondering, like, 422 00:23:39,840 --> 00:23:43,080 Speaker 1: is it possible to actually achieve something at absolute zero's 423 00:23:43,119 --> 00:23:46,399 Speaker 1: just sort of a theoretical concept, or can it actually 424 00:23:46,400 --> 00:23:48,280 Speaker 1: exist in and how is it you could have this 425 00:23:48,400 --> 00:23:51,880 Speaker 1: like theoretical concept that you could never actually achieve in practice. 426 00:23:51,920 --> 00:23:54,240 Speaker 1: That's sort of weird, right, if you can or cannot 427 00:23:54,320 --> 00:23:57,159 Speaker 1: achieve it, right, it's sort of it's a big unknown, Yeah, 428 00:23:57,240 --> 00:23:59,399 Speaker 1: but it would it would be weird to have this 429 00:23:59,520 --> 00:24:02,919 Speaker 1: theoretical a concept that's a just a straightforward extrapolation of 430 00:24:02,960 --> 00:24:06,119 Speaker 1: things we observe, but then have it be sort of unachievable. 431 00:24:06,480 --> 00:24:08,280 Speaker 1: If that's the case, it tells you something pretty deep 432 00:24:08,320 --> 00:24:11,639 Speaker 1: about the universe. And so people kept going, right, people, 433 00:24:11,840 --> 00:24:15,119 Speaker 1: and nowadays, what's like, what's the record lowest temperature we 434 00:24:15,160 --> 00:24:17,520 Speaker 1: can get to? Yeah, so people work really hard on 435 00:24:17,520 --> 00:24:21,720 Speaker 1: this now and the current record is much better than 436 00:24:21,800 --> 00:24:25,600 Speaker 1: like the Nobel Prize winning record at one point five 437 00:24:25,600 --> 00:24:29,679 Speaker 1: degrees kelvin. Right now we're at a hundred pico Kelvin's 438 00:24:30,080 --> 00:24:34,240 Speaker 1: Pico Kelvin's that's like one with nine zeros in front 439 00:24:34,240 --> 00:24:36,760 Speaker 1: of it or behind it. Yeah. Yeah, it's a zero 440 00:24:36,800 --> 00:24:40,560 Speaker 1: point zero zor zero zero or zero zero zero zero 441 00:24:40,800 --> 00:24:44,879 Speaker 1: one kelvin. Wow. So we've been able to cool something 442 00:24:44,920 --> 00:24:48,040 Speaker 1: down that cold. Yeah, well, I mean not me and 443 00:24:48,080 --> 00:24:50,960 Speaker 1: not you. Some people out there working really hard and 444 00:24:51,119 --> 00:24:53,960 Speaker 1: it's the collective we a is in the part of 445 00:24:54,080 --> 00:24:57,960 Speaker 1: humanity that I'm proud to call myself a part of. Yeah. 446 00:24:57,960 --> 00:25:00,239 Speaker 1: So that's the current record, and you know, the is 447 00:25:00,240 --> 00:25:04,000 Speaker 1: fascinating theoretically, but it's also it's hard to do. You know, 448 00:25:04,040 --> 00:25:06,679 Speaker 1: it's it's hard to accomplish this. As we were saying before, 449 00:25:06,960 --> 00:25:09,840 Speaker 1: Like you get something super duper cold, you need clever tricks. 450 00:25:10,080 --> 00:25:12,560 Speaker 1: Do they use something kind of special trick there? Yeah, 451 00:25:12,600 --> 00:25:14,720 Speaker 1: they do this thing which is really fascinating. It sounds 452 00:25:15,080 --> 00:25:19,679 Speaker 1: um counterintuitive. They use laser cooling like a cold ray. No, No, 453 00:25:19,800 --> 00:25:22,359 Speaker 1: it's a hot ray, just like normal, right, it's not 454 00:25:22,440 --> 00:25:25,119 Speaker 1: like a cold laser. That would be awesome. And in 455 00:25:25,160 --> 00:25:28,040 Speaker 1: the comic book version of US, I definitely want eyeballs 456 00:25:28,040 --> 00:25:30,520 Speaker 1: that shoot out cold lasers that can freeze things. There's 457 00:25:30,560 --> 00:25:34,440 Speaker 1: a Batman villain called Mr. Freeze. Yeah, precisely. But okay, 458 00:25:34,440 --> 00:25:36,840 Speaker 1: but this is not This isn't like a regular you know, 459 00:25:37,080 --> 00:25:41,800 Speaker 1: zapping laser, and somehow that cools things. And the way 460 00:25:41,840 --> 00:25:45,280 Speaker 1: it makes things cold is not by touching them and 461 00:25:45,320 --> 00:25:48,800 Speaker 1: taking away their heat. It's by selecting the hot stuff 462 00:25:48,840 --> 00:25:51,280 Speaker 1: and pushing it out of the way. So imagine you 463 00:25:51,320 --> 00:25:55,840 Speaker 1: have a big blob of gas. Not every atom in 464 00:25:55,960 --> 00:25:58,000 Speaker 1: that blob of gas is moving at the same speed. 465 00:25:58,000 --> 00:26:01,320 Speaker 1: That's a distribution. Some are moving after some removing colder. 466 00:26:01,720 --> 00:26:04,080 Speaker 1: If you could just select the cold ones, then the 467 00:26:04,119 --> 00:26:07,119 Speaker 1: average temperature would go down. Oh, I see, but you 468 00:26:07,160 --> 00:26:09,760 Speaker 1: can actually aim this laser or how does that work? 469 00:26:09,920 --> 00:26:13,119 Speaker 1: Or like the lasers some somehow only picks out the 470 00:26:13,280 --> 00:26:16,720 Speaker 1: fast moving atoms. Yeah, it's pretty complicated, but essentially the 471 00:26:16,760 --> 00:26:19,240 Speaker 1: idea is to get the fast moving atoms in the 472 00:26:19,280 --> 00:26:21,520 Speaker 1: path of the laser and so they didn't knocks them 473 00:26:21,520 --> 00:26:23,240 Speaker 1: out of the way. And you use a laser because 474 00:26:23,280 --> 00:26:25,080 Speaker 1: it's you can't just like go in there and flick 475 00:26:25,119 --> 00:26:27,760 Speaker 1: out individual atoms with a mechanical object. The laser is 476 00:26:27,800 --> 00:26:29,920 Speaker 1: the best way to interact with an individual atom. You 477 00:26:29,960 --> 00:26:34,040 Speaker 1: can just like blow on it. They tried that six 478 00:26:34,119 --> 00:26:37,560 Speaker 1: years later that guy still hadn't graduated. No Nobel prize 479 00:26:37,560 --> 00:26:41,440 Speaker 1: for no PhD even No. So that's the idea instead 480 00:26:41,440 --> 00:26:44,760 Speaker 1: of trying to cool down the whole sample, right, which 481 00:26:44,800 --> 00:26:46,320 Speaker 1: is what you do when you put your ice cream 482 00:26:46,520 --> 00:26:49,639 Speaker 1: in the freezer, instead they just pick out the cold bits. 483 00:26:49,880 --> 00:26:51,440 Speaker 1: It's like if I gave you a bowl of ice 484 00:26:51,480 --> 00:26:53,639 Speaker 1: cream and you're like, hey, it's kind of melted, and 485 00:26:53,680 --> 00:26:55,600 Speaker 1: I just sort of scooped out the hot bits and 486 00:26:55,680 --> 00:26:57,960 Speaker 1: left you with the colder bits of ice cream. You know, 487 00:26:58,000 --> 00:27:00,600 Speaker 1: that's not really cooling down your ice cream, but the 488 00:27:00,600 --> 00:27:02,920 Speaker 1: temperature of the ice cream you're left with is colder. 489 00:27:03,040 --> 00:27:05,520 Speaker 1: And so that's the current record right now, is that 490 00:27:05,720 --> 00:27:08,159 Speaker 1: the cold is that humans have been able to cool 491 00:27:08,280 --> 00:27:12,000 Speaker 1: something down is a hundred pico kelvin. Yeah, and that's 492 00:27:12,040 --> 00:27:15,440 Speaker 1: colder than outer space. You know, the average temperature out 493 00:27:15,440 --> 00:27:18,800 Speaker 1: there in space is like two point seven three degrees kelvin, 494 00:27:18,840 --> 00:27:21,960 Speaker 1: which sounds kind of hot in comparison. Yeah a minute 495 00:27:21,960 --> 00:27:24,399 Speaker 1: ago that sounded chili, right, but compared to a hundred 496 00:27:24,400 --> 00:27:27,840 Speaker 1: peeko kelvin's it's like bust out your swimsuit. Um. And 497 00:27:27,920 --> 00:27:30,520 Speaker 1: that's the temperature average temperature out there in space there's 498 00:27:30,600 --> 00:27:33,400 Speaker 1: some spots out there in space where lots of gases 499 00:27:33,440 --> 00:27:35,840 Speaker 1: have been like blowing out of a star, and that 500 00:27:35,960 --> 00:27:39,639 Speaker 1: expansion cools it down to maybe one degree kelvin. But 501 00:27:39,760 --> 00:27:43,679 Speaker 1: the coldest natural thing, we think is one degree kelvin 502 00:27:44,160 --> 00:27:46,560 Speaker 1: and the current record is a hundred peco kelvins. But 503 00:27:46,920 --> 00:27:49,639 Speaker 1: humans are not finished. You think we can go further 504 00:27:50,119 --> 00:27:54,360 Speaker 1: colder than Yeah, there's a there's an instrument right now 505 00:27:54,400 --> 00:27:57,600 Speaker 1: on the International Space Station. That's where they're doing this experiment. 506 00:27:57,640 --> 00:28:00,000 Speaker 1: And it's like you've got to be surrounded by m 507 00:28:00,080 --> 00:28:02,080 Speaker 1: D space just to even have a chance to do this. 508 00:28:02,600 --> 00:28:05,480 Speaker 1: And it's called the Cold Atom Lab, and their goals 509 00:28:05,520 --> 00:28:08,240 Speaker 1: to get down to one pico calvin down from a 510 00:28:08,280 --> 00:28:10,760 Speaker 1: hundred which is the current record. Maybe helped me paint 511 00:28:10,760 --> 00:28:13,239 Speaker 1: a picture here what's going on at that temperature like 512 00:28:13,359 --> 00:28:18,639 Speaker 1: or the atoms? Not very much? All right, that's that's about. 513 00:28:19,000 --> 00:28:21,240 Speaker 1: It's like the conversation at your average physics party, you know, 514 00:28:21,359 --> 00:28:24,719 Speaker 1: just like nobody's talking, everybody just sitting there, everyone's just 515 00:28:25,400 --> 00:28:29,000 Speaker 1: thinking about absolute zero. Now, there is some wiggling. If 516 00:28:29,000 --> 00:28:31,639 Speaker 1: you were to zoom down microscopically and look at these things, 517 00:28:31,800 --> 00:28:35,360 Speaker 1: there would be some energy. There's some motion of these particles, 518 00:28:35,400 --> 00:28:39,080 Speaker 1: like like each atom is maybe not moving across the room, 519 00:28:39,120 --> 00:28:42,440 Speaker 1: but they are sort of wiggling and vibrating. And these 520 00:28:42,440 --> 00:28:44,800 Speaker 1: are all crystals, right, so you imagine they have bonds 521 00:28:44,840 --> 00:28:47,920 Speaker 1: with each other. They're not totally separate atoms. Imagine like 522 00:28:47,920 --> 00:28:50,400 Speaker 1: a lattice and you have these atoms with these bonds 523 00:28:50,440 --> 00:28:53,120 Speaker 1: holding them in place, and then occasionally you get like 524 00:28:53,160 --> 00:28:56,400 Speaker 1: a little wiggle, a little bit of sound goes through 525 00:28:57,000 --> 00:28:59,840 Speaker 1: the material. Hey, that's a cool connection actually between temperature 526 00:28:59,880 --> 00:29:02,640 Speaker 1: and sound. Right. Sound probably does have a temperature because 527 00:29:02,640 --> 00:29:05,680 Speaker 1: it's the wiggling and motion of these of the material. 528 00:29:06,080 --> 00:29:08,440 Speaker 1: I never thought about that. Man, I'm gonna need another 529 00:29:08,440 --> 00:29:11,640 Speaker 1: shot just to consider that question, Daniel. When you get 530 00:29:11,680 --> 00:29:14,880 Speaker 1: down to those temperatures, things form into a crystal, because 531 00:29:14,880 --> 00:29:16,720 Speaker 1: what else are they going to do. Can you take 532 00:29:16,760 --> 00:29:19,960 Speaker 1: a gas down to that cold of a temperature or 533 00:29:20,120 --> 00:29:22,720 Speaker 1: does it have to form into a solid by that? 534 00:29:23,040 --> 00:29:24,760 Speaker 1: I think it has to form into a solid idea. 535 00:29:25,200 --> 00:29:27,240 Speaker 1: And I'm not a chemist, So maybe somebody out there 536 00:29:27,240 --> 00:29:29,640 Speaker 1: who knows more chemistry than I do knows whether or 537 00:29:29,640 --> 00:29:32,640 Speaker 1: not you could keep something a gas and still make 538 00:29:32,680 --> 00:29:34,360 Speaker 1: it really cold. I think it would have to be 539 00:29:34,960 --> 00:29:38,880 Speaker 1: super duper dilute, right, But essentially, you know, these molecules 540 00:29:38,880 --> 00:29:42,360 Speaker 1: have no vibrational energy, no rotational energy anymore, and no 541 00:29:42,640 --> 00:29:45,960 Speaker 1: translational energy. They're not moving, so they're just all sitting 542 00:29:46,000 --> 00:29:48,320 Speaker 1: in place. Whether or not it's a crystal or a gas, 543 00:29:48,360 --> 00:29:51,880 Speaker 1: I guess just depends on how tightly you're packing them. 544 00:29:51,920 --> 00:29:55,240 Speaker 1: But effectively this becomes how you define a gas or 545 00:29:56,200 --> 00:30:00,360 Speaker 1: a solid, right, yeah, and probably an absolute zero. You know, 546 00:30:00,440 --> 00:30:02,720 Speaker 1: it's one of those places where the phases are not 547 00:30:02,800 --> 00:30:04,520 Speaker 1: well to find, you know, how the chemistry they have 548 00:30:04,560 --> 00:30:06,640 Speaker 1: these like triple points where something is like, what is 549 00:30:06,640 --> 00:30:09,040 Speaker 1: it exactly if you're right at the triple point? Absolute 550 00:30:09,080 --> 00:30:11,680 Speaker 1: zero is probably like that. But you know, the fascinating 551 00:30:11,720 --> 00:30:16,080 Speaker 1: question is like how close absolute zero could you experimentally get, 552 00:30:16,120 --> 00:30:19,480 Speaker 1: Like is it possible to make a material with exactly 553 00:30:19,600 --> 00:30:22,040 Speaker 1: zero motion? All right, well, let's get into that, whether 554 00:30:22,080 --> 00:30:25,080 Speaker 1: it's even possible to reach absolute zero. And I think 555 00:30:25,200 --> 00:30:28,040 Speaker 1: for me, the more the interesting question is if there 556 00:30:28,040 --> 00:30:31,600 Speaker 1: are places in the universe that are absolute zero. So 557 00:30:31,680 --> 00:30:34,080 Speaker 1: let's get into that. But first let's take another break. 558 00:30:47,280 --> 00:30:49,240 Speaker 1: All right, Daniel, can we get there? Can we get 559 00:30:49,240 --> 00:30:54,400 Speaker 1: to absolute zero? Without drinking absolute vodka. I think it is. 560 00:30:54,440 --> 00:31:01,480 Speaker 1: They're totally not sponsored by liquor company um. But yeah, 561 00:31:01,520 --> 00:31:04,000 Speaker 1: can we get too absolutely Is it even possible or 562 00:31:04,080 --> 00:31:06,240 Speaker 1: like many of the people you interviewed on the street, 563 00:31:06,480 --> 00:31:10,160 Speaker 1: isn't only theoretical that you can get to absolute zero? 564 00:31:10,680 --> 00:31:13,560 Speaker 1: I think unfortunately, there is no amount of you can 565 00:31:13,640 --> 00:31:16,440 Speaker 1: drink to get us down to absolute zero. I think 566 00:31:16,480 --> 00:31:20,880 Speaker 1: theoretically it's impossible. It's impossible. Yeah, it's just not possible. 567 00:31:20,920 --> 00:31:23,800 Speaker 1: I think in the sort of the classical theory that 568 00:31:23,880 --> 00:31:26,920 Speaker 1: the folks who were first coming up with thermodynamics thought about, 569 00:31:27,280 --> 00:31:29,280 Speaker 1: you know, they're thinking about particles is a lot of 570 00:31:29,320 --> 00:31:31,480 Speaker 1: tiny little balls, and so you can talk about their 571 00:31:31,520 --> 00:31:34,880 Speaker 1: motion and their location in that context. It is possible. 572 00:31:34,880 --> 00:31:37,080 Speaker 1: But we know better now. We know that when you 573 00:31:37,120 --> 00:31:40,160 Speaker 1: get down to tiny particles, there are different rules that apply. 574 00:31:40,600 --> 00:31:44,320 Speaker 1: These particles don't have classical paths, they don't move in 575 00:31:44,360 --> 00:31:46,800 Speaker 1: a way that makes sense to us. Their quantum mechanical 576 00:31:47,000 --> 00:31:50,960 Speaker 1: Maybe even the idea of energy at that point gets fuzzy, right, 577 00:31:51,040 --> 00:31:53,480 Speaker 1: like the idea of kinetic energy, whether there's something's moving 578 00:31:53,560 --> 00:31:57,840 Speaker 1: or not. At the quantum level, it's sort of like undefined, right, yeah, well, 579 00:31:57,920 --> 00:32:00,520 Speaker 1: we'll dig into that in a whole separate episode of energy. 580 00:32:00,720 --> 00:32:03,400 Speaker 1: I gotta say, if several folks, like maybe dozens of 581 00:32:03,400 --> 00:32:05,280 Speaker 1: folks have written in asking us to do a podcast 582 00:32:05,280 --> 00:32:07,239 Speaker 1: episode about energy and what does it mean? And how 583 00:32:07,240 --> 00:32:09,480 Speaker 1: do you transfer one form to the other and quantum 584 00:32:09,520 --> 00:32:11,680 Speaker 1: mechanically doesn't make any sense. So we'll dig into that 585 00:32:11,720 --> 00:32:14,120 Speaker 1: a whole separate episode when we get the energy to 586 00:32:14,160 --> 00:32:18,600 Speaker 1: do it will after we're done drinking that bottle of vodka. 587 00:32:19,480 --> 00:32:22,560 Speaker 1: But the problem is that as you get really really cold, 588 00:32:22,880 --> 00:32:25,680 Speaker 1: you come down to this zero point energy. Right. Quantum 589 00:32:25,680 --> 00:32:29,800 Speaker 1: mechanics says that there are fluctuations everywhere, even in empty space. 590 00:32:30,080 --> 00:32:32,520 Speaker 1: There's a small amount of energy, and that energy is 591 00:32:32,560 --> 00:32:34,920 Speaker 1: constantly fluctuating. You have these quantum fields that are going 592 00:32:35,000 --> 00:32:37,680 Speaker 1: up and down, so you have particles being created, and 593 00:32:37,720 --> 00:32:41,640 Speaker 1: so it's impossible to get down to zero energy because 594 00:32:41,680 --> 00:32:44,720 Speaker 1: there's always some energy even in empty space. But is 595 00:32:44,760 --> 00:32:48,120 Speaker 1: it fluctuations or is it just uncertainty? Do you know? 596 00:32:48,240 --> 00:32:49,719 Speaker 1: Do you know what I mean? Like it's or like 597 00:32:49,840 --> 00:32:53,160 Speaker 1: randomness or is there even a difference? Well, there's both. 598 00:32:53,400 --> 00:32:55,560 Speaker 1: There's you know, we think that the mean energy of 599 00:32:55,600 --> 00:32:58,360 Speaker 1: empty space is not zero, that there is energy stored 600 00:32:58,400 --> 00:33:00,440 Speaker 1: in empty space, and so you just can get rid 601 00:33:00,520 --> 00:33:02,720 Speaker 1: of this is just a property of space itself to 602 00:33:02,800 --> 00:33:06,840 Speaker 1: have energy. Not even nothingness is absolute zero, yeah, because 603 00:33:06,880 --> 00:33:08,960 Speaker 1: there is no such thing as nothingness. You can't have 604 00:33:09,040 --> 00:33:11,840 Speaker 1: space without nothing. That's the property of space is that 605 00:33:11,880 --> 00:33:14,400 Speaker 1: it has quantum fields. And these quantum fields that we 606 00:33:14,400 --> 00:33:17,320 Speaker 1: talked about the Higgs Boson episode don't settle at zero. 607 00:33:17,360 --> 00:33:20,719 Speaker 1: They settle it's some energy above zero. Space is something, 608 00:33:21,080 --> 00:33:25,720 Speaker 1: space is something. So there so there's no nothingness. Actually yeah, well, 609 00:33:25,720 --> 00:33:27,400 Speaker 1: and that's a whole other concept. You know, how do 610 00:33:27,440 --> 00:33:30,200 Speaker 1: you get something from nothing? And what is nothingness? Or 611 00:33:30,280 --> 00:33:33,080 Speaker 1: maybe maybe it's fair to say space without anything in 612 00:33:33,160 --> 00:33:36,880 Speaker 1: it still has energy. Space can't have nothing because it 613 00:33:36,920 --> 00:33:40,880 Speaker 1: always have quantum fields which have energy. Yeah, there's no nothing, Yeah, 614 00:33:40,880 --> 00:33:43,800 Speaker 1: there's no nothing. That's the zero point energy concept. That's 615 00:33:43,840 --> 00:33:47,240 Speaker 1: like you can't get down to zero energy. But even 616 00:33:47,280 --> 00:33:50,160 Speaker 1: if somehow the universe, you know, even if we like 617 00:33:50,240 --> 00:33:52,080 Speaker 1: destroy the Higgs field and we got down to a 618 00:33:52,120 --> 00:33:54,160 Speaker 1: state or vacuum energy of zero, and we talked about 619 00:33:54,200 --> 00:33:56,960 Speaker 1: that in a separate episode, um, even still there would 620 00:33:56,960 --> 00:34:00,200 Speaker 1: be quantum mechanical problems because imagine what you do there. 621 00:34:00,200 --> 00:34:03,000 Speaker 1: You're taking a particle and you're setting its location, right, 622 00:34:03,040 --> 00:34:05,520 Speaker 1: has no motion, so you have to know its location, 623 00:34:05,840 --> 00:34:08,400 Speaker 1: and that means you also know it's momentum. But the 624 00:34:08,440 --> 00:34:12,440 Speaker 1: Heisenberg uncertainty principle says you have a minimum uncertainty in 625 00:34:12,480 --> 00:34:15,200 Speaker 1: the location and the motion. But when now we're talking 626 00:34:15,239 --> 00:34:17,600 Speaker 1: about a state where we know exactly the location and 627 00:34:17,680 --> 00:34:20,200 Speaker 1: the motion, and so that seems like it would violate 628 00:34:20,200 --> 00:34:23,000 Speaker 1: the uncertainty principle. Well, maybe that just means that there's 629 00:34:23,000 --> 00:34:26,440 Speaker 1: no like, the absolute coldness of the universe is not 630 00:34:26,680 --> 00:34:29,200 Speaker 1: zero point zero zero zero zero zero, But could there 631 00:34:29,280 --> 00:34:32,759 Speaker 1: still be like a minimum temperature of the universe, like 632 00:34:32,880 --> 00:34:37,120 Speaker 1: a point oh you know one pico pico, pico Keilen 633 00:34:37,320 --> 00:34:40,279 Speaker 1: or something like that. Oh, that's fascinating. You're saying the 634 00:34:40,400 --> 00:34:42,719 Speaker 1: minimum might not be zero, but there could be a 635 00:34:42,840 --> 00:34:46,600 Speaker 1: zero or could you or pretty much zero? I want 636 00:34:46,600 --> 00:34:50,120 Speaker 1: to hear that announcement scientists announce the achievement of pretty 637 00:34:50,200 --> 00:34:56,360 Speaker 1: much zero. We did it, We got pretty much nothing. No, 638 00:34:56,480 --> 00:34:59,560 Speaker 1: that's a really interesting question. Can you ask them topically 639 00:34:59,600 --> 00:35:03,000 Speaker 1: a pro absolutely zero getting closer and closer forever, or 640 00:35:03,160 --> 00:35:07,000 Speaker 1: is there a minimum non zero temperature. I think because 641 00:35:07,000 --> 00:35:09,799 Speaker 1: of the zero point energy of space, there must be 642 00:35:09,840 --> 00:35:13,840 Speaker 1: a minimum temperature. But if you somehow collapsed the Higgs 643 00:35:13,880 --> 00:35:16,759 Speaker 1: field and got rid of that minimum energy, then I 644 00:35:16,800 --> 00:35:19,560 Speaker 1: think you could ask some topically approach zero forever. You're saying, 645 00:35:19,719 --> 00:35:25,080 Speaker 1: unless the universe destroys itself, there is a limit. And 646 00:35:25,120 --> 00:35:27,880 Speaker 1: I'm not encouraging anybody to destroy the universe just to 647 00:35:27,920 --> 00:35:30,279 Speaker 1: win that Nobel prize, just to ask for Horace question, 648 00:35:30,360 --> 00:35:34,839 Speaker 1: We're going to destroy the universe. That is physicists being 649 00:35:34,920 --> 00:35:37,960 Speaker 1: drunk with power. Okay, So then, uh so there might 650 00:35:38,000 --> 00:35:40,600 Speaker 1: be sort of a minimum and you're saying, it's really 651 00:35:40,640 --> 00:35:43,759 Speaker 1: difficult to get there because space itself doesn't get to zero. 652 00:35:43,800 --> 00:35:45,840 Speaker 1: So that does that mean that nowhere in the universe 653 00:35:46,160 --> 00:35:48,880 Speaker 1: do we get that cold or like there's nowhere in 654 00:35:48,880 --> 00:35:52,799 Speaker 1: the universe that's actually zero. That's right. We think that 655 00:35:52,840 --> 00:35:55,000 Speaker 1: there is nowhere in the universe it's actually zero, and 656 00:35:55,120 --> 00:35:58,080 Speaker 1: absent physics labs here on Earth and on the space station, 657 00:35:58,200 --> 00:35:59,920 Speaker 1: we think the coldest thing in the universe is a 658 00:36:00,000 --> 00:36:03,560 Speaker 1: out just one kelvin out there in you know, the 659 00:36:03,680 --> 00:36:07,120 Speaker 1: heart of a frozen planet in the middle of nowhere. 660 00:36:07,320 --> 00:36:10,520 Speaker 1: It's still about one kelvin. Yeah, most of the stuff 661 00:36:10,560 --> 00:36:12,880 Speaker 1: out there is about two point seven degrees kelvin. If 662 00:36:12,920 --> 00:36:15,239 Speaker 1: you really work hard, you might be able to find 663 00:36:15,280 --> 00:36:17,799 Speaker 1: something at one degree kelvin. But here on Earth we 664 00:36:17,880 --> 00:36:20,960 Speaker 1: have stuff that's like a hundred Pego Calvin's going down 665 00:36:21,040 --> 00:36:25,680 Speaker 1: to one Pico Calvin. We hope. Wow. So the coldest 666 00:36:25,760 --> 00:36:30,200 Speaker 1: place in the entire universe might be here on Earth 667 00:36:30,360 --> 00:36:33,960 Speaker 1: in somebody's lab, depending of course, on whether there are aliens. 668 00:36:34,239 --> 00:36:37,560 Speaker 1: So basically we're in a race with alien physicists to 669 00:36:37,719 --> 00:36:40,000 Speaker 1: get the coldest place on Earth to see who has 670 00:36:40,080 --> 00:36:44,359 Speaker 1: the who's the coolest species in the universe. You knew 671 00:36:44,360 --> 00:36:46,320 Speaker 1: I was going to have to bring it back to aliens. Eventually. 672 00:36:46,719 --> 00:36:50,839 Speaker 1: Every topic has to touch on aliens, right, Yeah, there 673 00:36:50,880 --> 00:36:55,160 Speaker 1: could be aliens out there who have a lab because 674 00:36:55,160 --> 00:36:57,160 Speaker 1: they would have to do this on purpose, right, they 675 00:36:57,200 --> 00:36:59,640 Speaker 1: have a lab that maybe goes down to even colder 676 00:36:59,719 --> 00:37:02,399 Speaker 1: than us at a hundred people Calevin. Yeah, there could 677 00:37:02,400 --> 00:37:04,880 Speaker 1: be alien civilizations out there that have been doing physics 678 00:37:04,920 --> 00:37:07,680 Speaker 1: for a billion years, and you know, to them, like 679 00:37:07,800 --> 00:37:11,120 Speaker 1: a hundred Pekokelevins is laughable, man, That's like a kindergarten 680 00:37:11,200 --> 00:37:14,160 Speaker 1: science fair project. For them. Really, they could be way 681 00:37:14,360 --> 00:37:19,239 Speaker 1: way down further in the cold spectrum. Wow, But we 682 00:37:19,280 --> 00:37:21,480 Speaker 1: won't know until those aliens come and visit. All right, 683 00:37:21,520 --> 00:37:26,239 Speaker 1: But as far as we know, barring super advance cool aliens, 684 00:37:27,360 --> 00:37:30,200 Speaker 1: the coldest place in the universe is here, probably in 685 00:37:30,520 --> 00:37:32,640 Speaker 1: in the United States, or in the lab in Europe 686 00:37:32,719 --> 00:37:35,600 Speaker 1: or something. Right, Yeah, and very soon the coldest place 687 00:37:36,000 --> 00:37:38,319 Speaker 1: in the universe, we think, will be on the International 688 00:37:38,400 --> 00:37:41,080 Speaker 1: Space Station at the Cold Atom Lab. All right, Well, 689 00:37:41,080 --> 00:37:43,600 Speaker 1: I think we answered the question pretty well. Where is 690 00:37:43,600 --> 00:37:46,560 Speaker 1: the coldest place in the universe and whether we could 691 00:37:46,600 --> 00:37:51,160 Speaker 1: maybe get even colder might not be possible unless we 692 00:37:51,520 --> 00:37:55,440 Speaker 1: destroy the universe, it seems. But absolute zero is a 693 00:37:55,480 --> 00:37:58,839 Speaker 1: fascinating topic theoretically, and it's a fascinating goal. We keep 694 00:37:58,880 --> 00:38:00,840 Speaker 1: pushing more and more, and as we do so, we 695 00:38:00,960 --> 00:38:03,560 Speaker 1: learn more and more about cooling technology and how to 696 00:38:03,600 --> 00:38:07,080 Speaker 1: achieve that, and and how things operate into very extremes 697 00:38:07,120 --> 00:38:09,560 Speaker 1: of the universe, which is where we hope to reveal 698 00:38:09,719 --> 00:38:12,440 Speaker 1: some new secrets about how the universe works. So the 699 00:38:12,520 --> 00:38:14,879 Speaker 1: next time you have a scoop of ice cream, think 700 00:38:15,080 --> 00:38:18,520 Speaker 1: think about how how cold it is and how cold 701 00:38:18,600 --> 00:38:20,200 Speaker 1: you could get it if you went to your local 702 00:38:20,239 --> 00:38:23,239 Speaker 1: physics lab and recruited some physicist to give you a 703 00:38:23,280 --> 00:38:26,040 Speaker 1: better ice cream. Thanks for tuning in for this tasty topic. 704 00:38:26,280 --> 00:38:36,320 Speaker 1: See you next time. Before you still have a question 705 00:38:36,400 --> 00:38:39,799 Speaker 1: after listening to all these explanations, please drop us a line. 706 00:38:39,880 --> 00:38:42,000 Speaker 1: We'd love to hear from you. You can find us 707 00:38:42,040 --> 00:38:45,799 Speaker 1: on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at Daniel and Jorge That's 708 00:38:45,840 --> 00:38:49,200 Speaker 1: one Word, or email us at Feedback at Daniel and 709 00:38:49,320 --> 00:38:52,800 Speaker 1: Jorge dot com. Thanks for listening and remember that Daniel 710 00:38:52,800 --> 00:38:55,279 Speaker 1: and Jorge Explain the Universe is a production of I 711 00:38:55,560 --> 00:38:58,960 Speaker 1: Heart Radio from more podcast from my Heart Radio. Visit 712 00:38:59,040 --> 00:39:02,480 Speaker 1: the I Heart Radio, a Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 713 00:39:02,640 --> 00:39:13,480 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows. Yeah h