Absolute zero is the lowest limit of the thermodynamic temperature scale; a state at which the enthalpy and entropy of a cooled ideal gas reach their minimum value, taken as zero kelvin. The fundamental particles of nature have minimum vibrational motion, retaining only quantum mechanical, zero-point energy-induced particle motion. The theoretical temperature is determined by extrapolating the ideal gas law; by international agreement, absolute zero is taken as −273.15 degrees on the Celsius scale, which equals −459.67 degrees on the Fahrenheit scale. The corresponding Kelvin and Rankine temperature scales set their zero points at absolute zero by definition.
Robert Boyle pioneered the idea of an absolute zero.
Commemorative plaque in Leiden
The rapid expansion of gases leaving the Boomerang Nebula, a bi-polar, filamentary, likely proto-planetary nebula in Centaurus, has a temperature of 1 K, the lowest observed outside of a laboratory.
Thermodynamic temperature
Thermodynamic temperature is a quantity defined in thermodynamics as distinct from kinetic theory or statistical mechanics.
Figure 6 Ice and water: two phases of the same substance
Figure 8 When many of the chemical elements, such as the noble gases and platinum-group metals, freeze to a solid — the most ordered state of matter — their crystal structures have a close-packed arrangement. This yields the greatest possible packing density and the lowest energy state.
Figure 9 Due to the effects of zero-point energy, helium at ambient pressure remains a superfluid even when exceedingly close to absolute zero; it won't freeze unless under 25 bar of pressure (~25 atmospheres).
Anders Celsius
