Star Trek: The Next Generation - Colder Than Absolute Zero
Early in the episode, a crew member measures and announces a temperature reading of less than minus 273.16 degrees Celcius. Jacques Charles would turn in his grave!
Ok, if I remember my physics lessons, which isn't garenteed...
minus 273.16 degrees C is absolute zero... the temperature at which there is no energy, the theoretical minimum temperature (not that it'll be possible to extract all the energy...)
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As I recall, the temperature was in the region of about -290 degrees
Celsius, about 16 to 17 degrees below absolute zero. Absolute zero is
that temperature when the energy of the system is at its lowest possible
value (this is not the same as the atoms and molecules having no motion:
motion never stops, even at absolute zero - this is a consequence of
quantum mechanics). While it is possible to obtain temperatures below
absolute zero (regions within a laser have temperatures below absolute
zero, for example), such temperatures do not occur in nature, and
certainly they do not appear in expanses as large as a planet. Actually,
temperatures below absolute zero are hotter than ordinary temperatures
(moving in order from coldest to hottest, we have: absolute zero,
temperatures above absolute zero (this is our regime), infinite
temperature, temperatures below absolute zero, and finally, absolute zero,
again). Only temperatures above absolute zero can exist over extended
regions, so in "The Royale", the mistake was not so much stating a
temperature which can't exist (it can), but giving the temperature as a
naturally occurring temperature of a planet (the temperature can't occur
anywhere in nature as it is an artificial temperature, and the temperature
can't be made to extend over a whole planet). Another mistake would be to
suggest that the temperature was cold, when it is actually much hotter
than what we are used to. It would also be a mistake to think that the
value of absolute zero on the Celsius scale would have changed in 400
years time. The First and Second Laws of Thermodynamics establish that a
specific temperature Celsius is absolute zero. The value of absolute zero
has been experimentally determined with such precision that the
acknowledged value could not change by the amount required by the episode.
To deny the given value of absolute zero (within the bounds of precision)
would be either to deny one of the first two laws of Thermodynamics, or to
suggest that physicists have been making significant errors with
measurements for 150 years.
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Actually, the slipup was quite severe: Geordi states that the "average surface temperature" is "minus 291 degrees celsius"
The Episode is from Season 2, Episode #12, "The Royale"
I have a screenshot of Geordi's terminal with the (readable) graphic: MEAN SURFACE TEMP: -291 deg. C
Further, he mentions surface winds of "up to" 312 meters/second.
That, by the way, would be Mach 0.94, or about 670+ miles/hour.
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I'm amazed that nobody has commented on all the chemical elements that are quoted in various episodes of Star Trek. As these don't exist at the present time but are accepted per se, then surely minor scientific discrepencies should also be accepted. After all it's only Sci-Fi.
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Absolute Zero is measured at -273.15 C the StarTrek guys said -273.16 C thats .01 degree too low. I think the writers put that in just to piss us off! I have a feeling they knew that it was too low and wanted to piss, people like you and me who really care, off!
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AJK:
A lot of the people aboard the Enterprise are scientists or is somehow involved with science, and such people would never use a scale like Fahrenheit (since it's never been that popular outside the US, anyway). If they were to use any unit, it would most likely be Kelvin or Celsius. And since Kelvin has it's 0 when Celsius is at -273, a value below zero would never be possible on that scale. Given these facts, Nando is still correct. - I would like to know what episode this happened in tho.
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If I remember correctly, they didn't just miss it by 1/16 of a degree or so...I'm pretty sure it was ten or fifteen degrees below absolute zero. Besides which, it's impossible to say that maybe the laws of physics were different there, because absolute zero is very simply the lowest you can go no matter what: you can't have negative energy.
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Absolute zero (the complete absence of energy) is set at APPROXIMATELY 273 degrees below zero Celsius. In the future, measuring equipment will surely be more accurate than we have now. (And if this were a slip-up, I seriously doubt that the writers accidentally missed the minimum temperature by sixteen hundredths of a degree.)
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.....What? WHAT? What the hell is with you all? You're turning a simple slip- up into a freaking science lesson! A guy said something, a prop said different. End of story.
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Note that what we perceive to be absolute zero, is only an APPROXIMATION, so I really don't think that 16hundreths of a degree is much to be concerned about.
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May I remind everyone who reads this that Absolute Zero has never been proven beyond doubt, and even if is, then how do we know that Absolute Zero only applies to EARTH. Saying that is a slip up is like saying it is impossible to travel beyond the speed of light, yet that is not a slip up. Keep an open mind people!
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I don't remember the episode but perhaps they landed on a new planet, who's to say every planet should have the same minimum temperature as earth maybe there are planets out there which defy our laws of physics.
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