Scientists Chill Atoms to Negative Temperatures

[servognome]

It's been a while since I took solid state physics, but haven't similar properties been used before?
For example a peltier cooler uses the non-conserved entropic flow of holes and electrons as a heat pump.

 

[-Dragmire-]

Ok, I think.... nope... hmmm.

K, I'm stopping now, this is currently beyond my [sub][sub](incredibly basic)[/sub][/sub] understanding of how heat and atoms work.

...I'm going to drink the think away, this shit hurts my head.

 

[Porygon-2000]

Well, this certainly SEEMS wonderfully important. I think. Just... let me try and wrap my head around it a it more.

One question, though. Since this is obviously SCIENCE!!, does this mean we'll be getting jet packs out of this?
Because goddammit science, what are we paying you for?!

 

[Giyguy]

I really hope the news actually did their jobs correctly on this one.

oh, wait, it's the news, they never do their jobs, false hope spot everybody, get back to your lives.

 

[Anti-American Eagle]

Science, stop it! You're scaring the children... and freaking me out... were you getting high with magic again?

 

[ShindoL Shill]

I have always had a theory that the universe is just fucking with us.
I think this proves it.

Lord Kelvin must be spinning in his grave so fast that you could hook a generator up to him and call him a power station!

A very efficient power station, apparently.

 

[Fearzone]

Cool. No pun intended. Thanks for the heads up. Looking forward to learning more about this.

 

[Denamic]

Wait. Doesn't this violate the laws of thermodynamics?

That's not even possible in any sense.
If something appears to 'violate' laws of physics, you just don't understand the laws of physics well enough.

 

[KoudelkaMorgan]

This article more than any other science related blurb in recent memory strikes me as being complete BS. It instantly reminded me of that article where that website kept pestering people for unpaid submissions and then had to retract a story that was totally made up of gibberish that sounded plausible.

This doesn't even sound plausible.

Cool news if its true. I just find the notion of reverse entropy and energized particles glomming together instead of vibrating out to do their own thing, in contradiction to every previously observable instance of how matter behaves, is a bit much.

The part where we will have perpetual engines and such sounds silly as well.

The unsaid part where these new systems of endless energy overload and start a crazy chain reaction that vaporizes the planet and sends radioactive chunks of it to rain down on some distant world that become the only weakness for their version of superman does strike me as entirely plausible ._.

 

[Seanchaidh]

Does this article mean to say dark energy instead of dark matter? As far as we know, dark matter just has mass, not "negative pressure".

 

[EHKOS]

...my first thought was wtf. I don't understand any of this. But...but, does that mean that processor heatsinks could be amazing? This....this is breaking my brain.

 

[someonehairy-ish]

Sounds more like they created antimatter to me... but what do I know.

Well they've done that too, but in this case they're just fucking around with regular matter.

 

[someonehairy-ish]

The unsaid part where these new systems of endless energy overload and start a crazy chain reaction that vaporizes the planet and sends radioactive chunks of it to rain down on some distant world that become the only weakness for their version of superman does strike me as entirely plausible ._.

Well, their version of superman would be from Earth, so that would make him... man-man? Ordinaryman?

 

[Strazdas]

I love how none of this actually makes any common sense. They have found a way to get past absolute zero without hitting it, it gets hotter than positive numbers could get, and it could lead to more than 100% efficient machines.
I love science.

yeah, i had to really rack my brain around to figure this out too. eventually i think its labels. they found a new method that does not cool particles to 0 temeprature but affects them different that would effectivelyl ead to negative temperature, but due to method it doesnt, and they called that method negative temperature making, and so on.
well either that or all laws of physics be damned we just broke the universe.

Wait. Doesn't this violate the laws of thermodynamics?

That's not even possible in any sense.
If something appears to 'violate' laws of physics, you just don't understand the laws of physics well enough.

well if the scientists aren't playing an early april fools joke and the article is not misquoting anything or missing some relevant context we just bloody damn broke the universe. hows that for violating laws of physics?

 

[Erttheking]

....I think science just broke reality.

 

[Eomega123]

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, science.
Science, mindfucking everything, in the best possible way.

 

[Pikeperch]

I was going to go off on a rant about what negative temperature is, and why it doesn't defy our laws of physics of any way, but I saw that the ars technica link actually does a decent job of explaining it. It also has a link to the paper.
Now, if everyone going off about science breaking reality would kindly read that first I'd be happy as a clam. Or any text book on statistical physics. Please.

 

[ascorbius]

Well of course negative temperatures are almost infinitely hot, we're in a computer.

-1 in 8bit Binary is 11111111 which is 255 if you're not using two's compliment to represent the number.
The universe obviously uses much bigger numbers than that so it would appear to be infinitely hot.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two's_complement

 

[Al-Bundy-da-G]

Wait. Doesn't this violate the laws of thermodynamics?

Nope the law of thermodynamics states that it is impossible to reach absolute zero. So they did the next best thing the skipped absolute zero and went into the negative Kelvin temperature range.

Science is fun like that.

 

[Fluffythepoo]

Anyone else read the title and think "well no shit its the middle of winter"?