0 K = -273.15 C is theoretically the lowest temperature achievable...is there an upper limit ?

Question

0 K = -273.15 C is theoretically the lowest temperature achievable...is there an upper limit ?

Answer 1

Yes there is. Temperature is a measure of the average kinetic energy of the particles involved. There is a velocity factor involved, so there is an upper limit - c the speed of light. So there must be a maximum temperature attainable. What that limit is for actual temperature I haven't bothered to work it out. But I imagine someone with a few idle hours, calculator, and reference material could work it out.

Answer 2

No the molocules will just keep expanding ever faster since there is no end to the universe (that is until it stops expanding) So no uppe rlimit

Answer 3

Previous answerer is correct, there is a maximum temperature, however he or she is off by 21 orders of magnitude, it is actually closer to 10^32 K. A higher temperature has no physical meaning, and, as such, cannot possibly be realized. See here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck_temp...

Energy density would become so high at this temperature that the object would collapse to a singularity (black hole).

Answer 4

The highest temperature indirectly observed within our solar system is at the core of our sun, with a value of about 2 x 10^7 K. Our sun has a surface temperature of 5.73 x 10^3 K.Very massive stars (M > 10 solar masses) appear bluish in optical telescopes and have surface temperatures of about 2.5 x 10^4 k but have core temperatures in the region of 10^8 K. Type II supernovae (stars that have ended their fusion core life and still have masses greater than about 2 solar masses) explode with a luminosity of 10^42 to 10^46 W and achieve temperatures sufficient to create all of the known elements via the process of nuclear fusion. The peak explosive temperature of these detonating stars may well be in excess of 10^9 K! During the early stages of the initial 'Big Bang', that created our universe, there well may have been temperatures much greater than 10^9 K!

Answer 5

There's no upper limit.

Answer 6

Actually there is an upper limit, around 10^11 degrees Kelvin, but that was reached at the big bang. From then on it's been down hill.  In the end, waaaaay after you are gone, the universe will snuff out like a candle when its background temperature reaches absolute zero (almost).

Current thinking is that there will still be veeeeeeery long isolated energy waves in our snuffed out universe.  And where there is energy, there is temperature.  But the reminant waves will be so slow and consequent low energy, and so far between, that for all practical purposes, our universe will have reached absolute zero degrees Kelvin.  

Right now, as you sit and read this, the background temperature of the universe hovers around 2-4 degrees Kelvin depending on where you look and who you ask.

PS: Brian is correct...I took my temperature snapshot a second after the BB, when the universe had already started to cool down...my bad.  But the point made, that there is an upper limit, remains valid.