Thermodynamic temperature is a quantity defined in thermodynamics as distinct from kinetic theory or statistical mechanics .
150-450: The warm–hot intergalactic medium ( WHIM ) is the sparse, warm-to-hot (10 to 10 K ) plasma that cosmologists believe to exist in the spaces between galaxies and to contain 40–50% of the baryonic 'normal matter' in the universe at the current epoch . The WHIM can be described as a web of hot, diffuse gas stretching between galaxies, and consists of plasma, as well as atoms and molecules , in contrast to dark matter . The WHIM
300-418: A more ordered state to a less ordered state . In Fig. 7 , the melting of ice is shown within the lower left box heading from blue to green. At one specific thermodynamic point, the melting point (which is 0 °C across a wide pressure range in the case of water), all the atoms or molecules are, on average, at the maximum energy threshold their chemical bonds can withstand without breaking away from
450-461: A relative standard uncertainty of 0.37 ppm. Afterwards, by defining the Boltzmann constant as exactly 1.380 649 × 10 J/K , the 0.37 ppm uncertainty was transferred to the triple point of water, which became an experimentally determined value of 273.1600 ± 0.0001 K ( 0.0100 ± 0.0001 °C ). That the triple point of water ended up being exceedingly close to 273.16 K after
600-444: A theoretically perfect heat engine with such helium as one of its working fluids could never transfer any net kinetic energy ( heat energy ) to the other working fluid and no thermodynamic work could occur. Temperature is generally expressed in absolute terms when scientifically examining temperature's interrelationships with certain other physical properties of matter such as its volume or pressure (see Gay-Lussac's law ), or
750-520: A thermometer . It reflects the average kinetic energy of the vibrating and colliding atoms making up a substance. Thermometers are calibrated in various temperature scales that historically have relied on various reference points and thermometric substances for definition. The most common scales are the Celsius scale with the unit symbol °C (formerly called centigrade ), the Fahrenheit scale (°F), and
900-439: A body at that temperature. Temperature is important in all fields of natural science , including physics , chemistry , Earth science , astronomy , medicine , biology , ecology , material science , metallurgy , mechanical engineering and geography as well as most aspects of daily life. Many physical processes are related to temperature; some of them are given below: Temperature scales need two values for definition:
1050-430: A body in a state of thermodynamic equilibrium is always positive relative to absolute zero. Besides the internationally agreed Kelvin scale, there is also a thermodynamic temperature scale , invented by Lord Kelvin , also with its numerical zero at the absolute zero of temperature, but directly relating to purely macroscopic thermodynamic concepts, including the macroscopic entropy , though microscopically referable to
1200-407: A certain temperature. Nonetheless, all those degrees of freedom that are available to the molecules under a particular set of conditions contribute to the specific heat capacity of a substance; which is to say, they increase the amount of heat (kinetic energy) required to raise a given amount of the substance by one kelvin or one degree Celsius. The relationship of kinetic energy, mass, and velocity
1350-410: A cycle of states of its working body. The engine takes in a quantity of heat Q 1 from a hot reservoir and passes out a lesser quantity of waste heat Q 2 < 0 to a cold reservoir. The net heat energy absorbed by the working body is passed, as thermodynamic work, to a work reservoir, and is considered to be the output of the engine. The cycle is imagined to run so slowly that at each point of
1500-402: A fixed volume and mass of an ideal gas is directly proportional to its temperature. Some natural gases show so nearly ideal properties over suitable temperature range that they can be used for thermometry; this was important during the development of thermodynamics and is still of practical importance today. The ideal gas thermometer is, however, not theoretically perfect for thermodynamics. This
1650-431: A gas can be calculated theoretically from the gas's molecular character, temperature, pressure, and the Boltzmann constant. For a gas of known molecular character and pressure, this provides a relation between temperature and the Boltzmann constant. Those quantities can be known or measured more precisely than can the thermodynamic variables that define the state of a sample of water at its triple point. Consequently, taking
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#17328523334821800-569: A gas contributes to the pressure and volume of that gas is a proportional function of thermodynamic temperature as established by the Boltzmann constant (symbol: k B ). The Boltzmann constant also relates the thermodynamic temperature of a gas to the mean kinetic energy of an individual particles' translational motion as follows: E ~ = 3 2 k B T {\displaystyle {\tilde {E}}={\frac {3}{2}}k_{\text{B}}T} where: While
1950-410: A good job of establishing—within the uncertainties due to isotopic variations between water samples—temperatures around the freezing and triple points of water, but required that intermediate values between the triple point and absolute zero, as well as extrapolated values from room temperature and beyond, to be experimentally determined via apparatus and procedures in individual labs. This shortcoming
2100-524: A kelvin) in 1994, they used optical lattice laser equipment to adiabatically cool cesium atoms. They then turned off the entrapment lasers and directly measured atom velocities of 7 mm per second to in order to calculate their temperature. Formulas for calculating the velocity and speed of translational motion are given in the following footnote. It is neither difficult to imagine atomic motions due to kinetic temperature, nor distinguish between such motions and those due to zero-point energy. Consider
2250-413: A large amount of heat energy per mole with only a modest temperature change because each molecule comprises an average of 21 atoms and therefore has many internal degrees of freedom. Even larger, more complex molecules can have dozens of internal degrees of freedom. Heat conduction is the diffusion of thermal energy from hot parts of a system to cold parts. A system can be either a single bulk entity or
2400-406: A linear relation between their numerical scale readings, but it does require that the relation between their numerical readings shall be strictly monotonic . A definite sense of greater hotness can be had, independently of calorimetry , of thermodynamics, and of properties of particular materials, from Wien's displacement law of thermal radiation : the temperature of a bath of thermal radiation
2550-415: A loss of heat from a closed system, without phase change, without change of volume, and without a change in external force fields acting on it, decreases its temperature. While for bodies in their own thermodynamic equilibrium states, the notion of temperature requires that all empirical thermometers must agree as to which of two bodies is the hotter or that they are at the same temperature, this requirement
2700-529: A plurality of discrete bulk entities. The term bulk in this context means a statistically significant quantity of particles (which can be a microscopic amount). Whenever thermal energy diffuses within an isolated system, temperature differences within the system decrease (and entropy increases). One particular heat conduction mechanism occurs when translational motion, the particle motion underlying temperature, transfers momentum from particle to particle in collisions. In gases, these translational motions are of
2850-448: A rest mass only 1 ⁄ 1836 that of a proton . This is about the same ratio as a .22 Short bullet (29 grains or 1.88 g ) compared to the rifle that shoots it. As Isaac Newton wrote with his third law of motion , Law #3: All forces occur in pairs, and these two forces are equal in magnitude and opposite in direction. However, a bullet accelerates faster than a rifle given an equal force. Since kinetic energy increases as
3000-462: A spatially varying local property in that body, and this is because the temperature is an intensive variable. Temperature is a measure of a quality of a state of a material. The quality may be regarded as a more abstract entity than any particular temperature scale that measures it, and is called hotness by some writers. The quality of hotness refers to the state of material only in a particular locality, and in general, apart from bodies held in
3150-495: A species being all alike. It explains macroscopic phenomena through the classical mechanics of the microscopic particles. The equipartition theorem of kinetic theory asserts that each classical degree of freedom of a freely moving particle has an average kinetic energy of k B T /2 where k B denotes the Boltzmann constant . The translational motion of the particle has three degrees of freedom, so that, except at very low temperatures where quantum effects predominate,
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#17328523334823300-415: A specific intensive variable. An example is a diathermic wall that is permeable only to heat; the intensive variable for this case is temperature. When the two bodies have been connected through the specifically permeable wall for a very long time, and have settled to a permanent steady state, the relevant intensive variables are equal in the two bodies; for a diathermal wall, this statement is sometimes called
3450-400: A steady state of thermodynamic equilibrium, hotness varies from place to place. It is not necessarily the case that a material in a particular place is in a state that is steady and nearly homogeneous enough to allow it to have a well-defined hotness or temperature. Hotness may be represented abstractly as a one-dimensional manifold . Every valid temperature scale has its own one-to-one map into
3600-413: A substance are as close as possible to complete rest and retain only ZPE (zero-point energy)-induced quantum mechanical motion, the substance is at the temperature of absolute zero ( T = 0). Whereas absolute zero is the point of zero thermodynamic temperature and is also the point at which the particle constituents of matter have minimal motion, absolute zero is not necessarily the point at which
3750-521: A substance as the photons are absorbed by neighboring atoms, transferring momentum in the process. Black-body photons also easily escape from a substance and can be absorbed by the ambient environment; kinetic energy is lost in the process. As established by the Stefan–Boltzmann law , the intensity of black-body radiation increases as the fourth power of absolute temperature. Thus, a black-body at 824 K (just short of glowing dull red) emits 60 times
3900-669: A substance at equilibrium, black-body photons are emitted across a range of wavelengths in a spectrum that has a bell curve-like shape called a Planck curve (see graph in Fig. 5 at right). The top of a Planck curve ( the peak emittance wavelength ) is located in a particular part of the electromagnetic spectrum depending on the temperature of the black-body. Substances at extreme cryogenic temperatures emit at long radio wavelengths whereas extremely hot temperatures produce short gamma rays (see § Table of thermodynamic temperatures ). Black-body radiation diffuses thermal energy throughout
4050-454: A substance contains zero internal energy; one must be very precise with what one means by internal energy . Often, all the phase changes that can occur in a substance, will have occurred by the time it reaches absolute zero. However, this is not always the case. Notably, T = 0 helium remains liquid at room pressure ( Fig. 9 at right) and must be under a pressure of at least 25 bar (2.5 MPa ) to crystallize. This
4200-425: A substance in equilibrium, the kinetic energy of particle motion is evenly distributed among all the active degrees of freedom available to the particles. Since the internal temperature of molecules are usually equal to their kinetic temperature, the distinction is usually of interest only in the detailed study of non- local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) phenomena such as combustion , the sublimation of solids, and
4350-435: A system undergoing a first-order phase change such as the melting of ice, as a closed system receives heat, without a change in its volume and without a change in external force fields acting on it, its temperature rises. For a system undergoing such a phase change so slowly that departure from thermodynamic equilibrium can be neglected, its temperature remains constant as the system is supplied with latent heat . Conversely,
4500-486: A virtual standstill (off the x –axis to the right). This graph uses inverse speed for its x -axis so the shape of the curve can easily be compared to the curves in Fig. 5 below. In both graphs, zero on the x -axis represents infinite temperature. Additionally, the x - and y -axes on both graphs are scaled proportionally. Although very specialized laboratory equipment is required to directly detect translational motions,
4650-511: Is proportional , by a universal constant, to the frequency of the maximum of its frequency spectrum ; this frequency is always positive, but can have values that tend to zero . Thermal radiation is initially defined for a cavity in thermodynamic equilibrium. These physical facts justify a mathematical statement that hotness exists on an ordered one-dimensional manifold . This is a fundamental character of temperature and thermometers for bodies in their own thermodynamic equilibrium. Except for
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4800-444: Is a diatomic molecule, has five active degrees of freedom: the three comprising translational motion plus two rotational degrees of freedom internally. Not surprisingly, in accordance with the equipartition theorem, nitrogen has five-thirds the specific heat capacity per mole (a specific number of molecules) as do the monatomic gases. Another example is gasoline (see table showing its specific heat capacity). Gasoline can absorb
4950-467: Is a byproduct of the collisions arising from various vibrational motions of atoms. These collisions cause the electrons of the atoms to emit thermal photons (known as black-body radiation ). Photons are emitted anytime an electric charge is accelerated (as happens when electron clouds of two atoms collide). Even individual molecules with internal temperatures greater than absolute zero also emit black-body radiation from their atoms. In any bulk quantity of
5100-410: Is a function of the kinetic energy borne in the freely moving atoms' and molecules' three translational degrees of freedom. Fixing the Boltzmann constant at a specific value, along with other rule making, had the effect of precisely establishing the magnitude of the unit interval of SI temperature, the kelvin, in terms of the average kinetic behavior of the noble gases. Moreover, the starting point of
5250-782: Is a halo of gas between the ISM and virial radii surrounding galaxies that is diffuse, and nearly invisible. Current thinking is that the CGM is an important source of star-forming material, and that it regulates a galaxy’s gas supply. If visible, the CGM of the Andromeda Galaxy (1.3-2 million ly) would stretch 3 times the size of the width of the Big Dipper—easily the biggest feature on the nighttime sky, and even bump into our own CGM, though that isn't fully known because we reside in it. There are two layered parts to Andromeda CGM: an inner shell of gas
5400-413: Is a proposed solution to the missing baryon problem , where the observed amount of baryonic matter does not match theoretical predictions from cosmology. Much of what is known about the warm–hot intergalactic medium comes from computer simulations of the cosmos. The WHIM is expected to form a filamentary structure of tenuous, highly ionized baryons with a density of 1−10 particles per cubic meter. Within
5550-413: Is a single levitated argon atom (argon comprises about 0.93% of air) that is illuminated and glowing against a dark backdrop. If this argon atom was at a beyond-record-setting one-trillionth of a kelvin above absolute zero, and was moving perpendicular to the field of view towards the right, it would require 13.9 seconds to move from the center of the image to the 200-micron tick mark; this travel distance
5700-475: Is a temperature of zero kelvins (0 K), precisely corresponds to −273.15 °C and −459.67 °F. Matter at absolute zero has no remaining transferable average kinetic energy and the only remaining particle motion is due to an ever-pervasive quantum mechanical phenomenon called ZPE ( zero-point energy ). Though the atoms in, for instance, a container of liquid helium that was precisely at absolute zero would still jostle slightly due to zero-point energy,
5850-445: Is about the same as the width of the period at the end of this sentence on modern computer monitors. As the argon atom slowly moved, the positional jitter due to zero-point energy would be much less than the 200-nanometer (0.0002 mm) resolution of an optical microscope. Importantly, the atom's translational velocity of 14.43 microns per second constitutes all its retained kinetic energy due to not being precisely at absolute zero. Were
6000-409: Is an intensive variable because it is equal to a differential coefficient of one extensive variable with respect to another, for a given body. It thus has the dimensions of a ratio of two extensive variables. In thermodynamics, two bodies are often considered as connected by contact with a common wall, which has some specific permeability properties. Such specific permeability can be referred to
6150-507: Is arbitrary, and an alternate, less widely used absolute temperature scale exists called the Rankine scale , made to be aligned with the Fahrenheit scale as Kelvin is with Celsius. The thermodynamic definition of temperature is due to Kelvin. It is framed in terms of an idealized device called a Carnot engine , imagined to run in a fictive continuous cycle of successive processes that traverse
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6300-453: Is as likely that there will be less ZPE-induced particle motion after a given collision as more . This random nature of ZPE is why it has no net effect upon either the pressure or volume of any bulk quantity (a statistically significant quantity of particles) of gases. However, in temperature T = 0 condensed matter ; e.g., solids and liquids, ZPE causes inter-atomic jostling where atoms would otherwise be perfectly stationary. Inasmuch as
6450-402: Is because helium's heat of fusion (the energy required to melt helium ice) is so low (only 21 joules per mole) that the motion-inducing effect of zero-point energy is sufficient to prevent it from freezing at lower pressures. Temperature Temperature is a physical quantity that quantitatively expresses the attribute of hotness or coldness. Temperature is measured with
6600-418: Is because in solids, atoms and molecules are locked into place relative to their neighbors and are not free to roam. Metals however, are not restricted to only phonon-based heat conduction. Thermal energy conducts through metals extraordinarily quickly because instead of direct molecule-to-molecule collisions, the vast majority of thermal energy is mediated via very light, mobile conduction electrons . This
6750-454: Is because the entropy of an ideal gas at its absolute zero of temperature is not a positive semi-definite quantity, which puts the gas in violation of the third law of thermodynamics. In contrast to real materials, the ideal gas does not liquefy or solidify, no matter how cold it is. Alternatively thinking, the ideal gas law, refers to the limit of infinitely high temperature and zero pressure; these conditions guarantee non-interactive motions of
6900-463: Is defined in terms of a macroscopic Carnot cycle . Thermodynamic temperature is of importance in thermodynamics because it is defined in purely thermodynamic terms. SI temperature is conceptually far different from thermodynamic temperature. Thermodynamic temperature was rigorously defined historically long before there was a fair knowledge of microscopic particles such as atoms, molecules, and electrons. The International System of Units (SI) specifies
7050-543: Is directly proportional to the temperature of the black body; this is known as Wien's displacement law and has a theoretical explanation in Planck's law and the Bose–Einstein law . Measurement of the spectrum of noise-power produced by an electrical resistor can also provide accurate temperature measurement. The resistor has two terminals and is in effect a one-dimensional body. The Bose-Einstein law for this case indicates that
7200-485: Is disregarded. In an ideal gas , and in other theoretically understood bodies, the Kelvin temperature is defined to be proportional to the average kinetic energy of non-interactively moving microscopic particles, which can be measured by suitable techniques. The proportionality constant is a simple multiple of the Boltzmann constant. If molecules, atoms, or electrons are emitted from material and their velocities are measured,
7350-547: Is exactly equal to −273.15 °C , or −459.67 °F . Referring to the Boltzmann constant , to the Maxwell–Boltzmann distribution , and to the Boltzmann statistical mechanical definition of entropy , as distinct from the Gibbs definition, for independently moving microscopic particles, disregarding interparticle potential energy, by international agreement, a temperature scale is defined and said to be absolute because it
7500-422: Is given by the formula E k = 1 / 2 mv . Accordingly, particles with one unit of mass moving at one unit of velocity have precisely the same kinetic energy, and precisely the same temperature, as those with four times the mass but half the velocity. The extent to which the kinetic energy of translational motion in a statistically significant collection of atoms or molecules in
7650-465: Is in common use in the United States. Water freezes at 32 °F and boils at 212 °F at sea-level atmospheric pressure. At the absolute zero of temperature, no energy can be removed from matter as heat, a fact expressed in the third law of thermodynamics . At this temperature, matter contains no macroscopic thermal energy, but still has quantum-mechanical zero-point energy as predicted by
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#17328523334827800-510: Is independent of the characteristics of particular thermometric substances and thermometer mechanisms. Apart from absolute zero, it does not have a reference temperature. It is known as the Kelvin scale , widely used in science and technology. The kelvin (the unit name is spelled with a lower-case 'k') is the unit of temperature in the International System of Units (SI). The temperature of
7950-417: Is just one contributor to the total thermal energy in a substance; another is phase transitions , which are the potential energy of molecular bonds that can form in a substance as it cools (such as during condensing and freezing ). The thermal energy required for a phase transition is called latent heat . This phenomenon may more easily be grasped by considering it in the reverse direction: latent heat
8100-408: Is liberated or absorbed during phase transitions, pure chemical elements , compounds , and eutectic alloys exhibit no temperature change whatsoever while they undergo them (see Fig. 7 , below right). Consider one particular type of phase transition: melting. When a solid is melting, crystal lattice chemical bonds are being broken apart; the substance is transitioning from what is known as
8250-455: Is more modest, ranging from 0.021 to 2.3 kJ per mole. Relatively speaking, phase transitions can be truly energetic events. To completely melt ice at 0 °C into water at 0 °C, one must add roughly 80 times the thermal energy as is required to increase the temperature of the same mass of liquid water by one degree Celsius. The metals' ratios are even greater, typically in the range of 400 to 1200 times. The phase transition of boiling
8400-429: Is much more energetic than freezing. For instance, the energy required to completely boil or vaporize water (what is known as enthalpy of vaporization ) is roughly 540 times that required for a one-degree increase. Water's sizable enthalpy of vaporization is why one's skin can be burned so quickly as steam condenses on it (heading from red to green in Fig. 7 above); water vapors (gas phase) are liquefied on
8550-427: Is nested inside an outer shell. The inner shell (0.5 million ly) is more dynamic and is thought to be more dynamic and turbulent because of outflows from supernova, and the outer shell is hotter and smoother. Kelvin temperature Historically, thermodynamic temperature was defined by Lord Kelvin in terms of a macroscopic relation between thermodynamic work and heat transfer as defined in thermodynamics, but
8700-455: Is not safe for bodies that are in steady states though not in thermodynamic equilibrium. It can then well be that different empirical thermometers disagree about which is hotter, and if this is so, then at least one of the bodies does not have a well-defined absolute thermodynamic temperature. Nevertheless, any one given body and any one suitable empirical thermometer can still support notions of empirical, non-absolute, hotness, and temperature, for
8850-551: Is only one degree of freedom left to arbitrary choice, rather than two as in relative scales. For the Kelvin scale since May 2019, by international convention, the choice has been made to use knowledge of modes of operation of various thermometric devices, relying on microscopic kinetic theories about molecular motion. The numerical scale is settled by a conventional definition of the value of the Boltzmann constant , which relates macroscopic temperature to average microscopic kinetic energy of particles such as molecules. Its numerical value
9000-419: Is said to prevail throughout the body. It makes good sense, for example, to say of the extensive variable U , or of the extensive variable S , that it has a density per unit volume or a quantity per unit mass of the system, but it makes no sense to speak of the density of temperature per unit volume or quantity of temperature per unit mass of the system. On the other hand, it makes no sense to speak of
9150-423: Is the energy required to break chemical bonds (such as during evaporation and melting ). Almost everyone is familiar with the effects of phase transitions; for instance, steam at 100 °C can cause severe burns much faster than the 100 °C air from a hair dryer . This occurs because a large amount of latent heat is liberated as steam condenses into liquid water on the skin. Even though thermal energy
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#17328523334829300-441: Is the same magnitude as one kelvin. The magnitude of the kelvin was redefined in 2019 in relation to the physical property underlying thermodynamic temperature: the kinetic energy of atomic free particle motion. The revision fixed the Boltzmann constant at exactly 1.380 649 × 10 joules per kelvin (J/K). The microscopic property that imbues material substances with a temperature can be readily understood by examining
9450-456: Is the same magnitude as the degree Fahrenheit (symbol: °F). A unit increment of one kelvin is exactly 1.8 times one degree Rankine; thus, to convert a specific temperature on the Kelvin scale to the Rankine scale, x K = 1.8 x °R , and to convert from a temperature on the Rankine scale to the Kelvin scale, x °R = x /1.8 K . Consequently, absolute zero is "0" for both scales, but
9600-420: Is what gives substances their temperature). The effect is rather like popcorn : at a certain temperature, additional thermal energy cannot make the kernels any hotter until the transition (popping) is complete. If the process is reversed (as in the freezing of a liquid), thermal energy must be removed from a substance. As stated above, the thermal energy required for a phase transition is called latent heat . In
9750-439: Is why there is a near-perfect correlation between metals' thermal conductivity and their electrical conductivity . Conduction electrons imbue metals with their extraordinary conductivity because they are delocalized (i.e., not tied to a specific atom) and behave rather like a sort of quantum gas due to the effects of zero-point energy (for more on ZPE, see Note 1 below). Furthermore, electrons are relatively light with
9900-488: The Boltzmann constant , the value of which is defined as fixed by international convention. Since May 2019, the magnitude of the kelvin is defined in relation to microscopic phenomena, characterized in terms of statistical mechanics. Previously, but since 1954, the International System of Units defined a scale and unit for the kelvin as a thermodynamic temperature , by using the reliably reproducible temperature of
10050-525: The Boltzmann constant . That constant refers to chosen kinds of motion of microscopic particles in the constitution of the body. In those kinds of motion, the particles move individually, without mutual interaction. Such motions are typically interrupted by inter-particle collisions, but for temperature measurement, the motions are chosen so that, between collisions, the non-interactive segments of their trajectories are known to be accessible to accurate measurement. For this purpose, interparticle potential energy
10200-476: The Kelvin scale (K), with the third being used predominantly for scientific purposes. The kelvin is one of the seven base units in the International System of Units (SI). Absolute zero , i.e., zero kelvin or −273.15 °C, is the lowest point in the thermodynamic temperature scale. Experimentally, it can be approached very closely but not actually reached, as recognized in the third law of thermodynamics . It would be impossible to extract energy as heat from
10350-464: The diffusion of hot gases in a partial vacuum. The kinetic energy stored internally in molecules causes substances to contain more heat energy at any given temperature and to absorb additional internal energy for a given temperature increase. This is because any kinetic energy that is, at a given instant, bound in internal motions, is not contributing to the molecules' translational motions at that same instant. This extra kinetic energy simply increases
10500-413: The ideal gas law , which relates, per the Boltzmann constant, how heat energy causes precisely defined changes in the pressure and temperature of certain gases. This is because monatomic gases like helium and argon behave kinetically like freely moving perfectly elastic and spherical billiard balls that move only in a specific subset of the possible motions that can occur in matter: that comprising
10650-400: The noble gases helium and argon , which have only the three translational degrees of freedom (the X, Y, and Z axis). Kinetic energy is stored in molecules' internal degrees of freedom, which gives them an internal temperature . Even though these motions are called "internal", the external portions of molecules still move—rather like the jiggling of a stationary water balloon . This permits
10800-593: The three translational degrees of freedom . The translational degrees of freedom are the familiar billiard ball-like movements along the X, Y, and Z axes of 3D space (see Fig. 1 , below). This is why the noble gases all have the same specific heat capacity per atom and why that value is lowest of all the gases. Molecules (two or more chemically bound atoms), however, have internal structure and therefore have additional internal degrees of freedom (see Fig. 3 , below), which makes molecules absorb more heat energy for any given amount of temperature rise than do
10950-602: The triple point of water as a second reference point, the first reference point being 0 K at absolute zero. Historically, the temperature of the triple point of water was defined as exactly 273.16 K. Today it is an empirically measured quantity. The freezing point of water at sea-level atmospheric pressure occurs at very close to 273.15 K ( 0 °C ). There are various kinds of temperature scale. It may be convenient to classify them as empirically and theoretically based. Empirical temperature scales are historically older, while theoretically based scales arose in
11100-459: The uncertainty principle , although this does not enter into the definition of absolute temperature. Experimentally, absolute zero can be approached only very closely; it can never be reached (the lowest temperature attained by experiment is 38 pK). Theoretically, in a body at a temperature of absolute zero, all classical motion of its particles has ceased and they are at complete rest in this classical sense. Absolute zero, defined as 0 K ,
11250-464: The zeroth law of thermodynamics says that they all measure the same quality. This means that for a body in its own state of internal thermodynamic equilibrium, every correctly calibrated thermometer, of whatever kind, that measures the temperature of the body, records one and the same temperature. For a body that is not in its own state of internal thermodynamic equilibrium, different thermometers can record different temperatures, depending respectively on
11400-420: The 4.2221 K boiling point of helium." The Boltzmann constant and its related formulas describe the realm of particle kinetics and velocity vectors whereas ZPE ( zero-point energy ) is an energy field that jostles particles in ways described by the mathematics of quantum mechanics. In atomic and molecular collisions in gases, ZPE introduces a degree of chaos , i.e., unpredictability, to rebound kinetics; it
11550-435: The Boltzmann constant a precisely defined value had no practical effect on modern thermometry except for the most exquisitely precise measurements. Before the revision, the triple point of water was exactly 273.16 K and 0.01 °C and the Boltzmann constant was experimentally determined to be 1.380 649 03 (51) × 10 J/K , where the "(51)" denotes the uncertainty in the two least significant digits (the 03) and equals
11700-432: The Boltzmann constant is useful for finding the mean kinetic energy in a sample of particles, it is important to note that even when a substance is isolated and in thermodynamic equilibrium (all parts are at a uniform temperature and no heat is going into or out of it), the translational motions of individual atoms and molecules occurs across a wide range of speeds (see animation in Fig. 1 above). At any one instant,
11850-409: The Boltzmann constant. Taking the value of the Boltzmann constant as a primarily defined reference of exactly defined value, a measurement of the speed of sound can provide a more precise measurement of the temperature of the gas. It is possible to measure the average kinetic energy of constituent microscopic particles if they are allowed to escape from the bulk of the system, through a small hole in
12000-480: The Gibbs statistical mechanical definition of entropy for the canonical ensemble , that takes interparticle potential energy into account, as well as independent particle motion so that it can account for measurements of temperatures near absolute zero. This scale has a reference temperature at the triple point of water, the numerical value of which is defined by measurements using the aforementioned internationally agreed Kelvin scale. Many scientific measurements use
12150-409: The Kelvin temperature scale (unit symbol: K), named in honor of the physicist who first defined it . It is an absolute scale. Its numerical zero point, 0 K , is at the absolute zero of temperature. Since May 2019, the kelvin has been defined through particle kinetic theory , and statistical mechanics. In the International System of Units (SI), the magnitude of the kelvin is defined in terms of
12300-422: The Rankine scale. Throughout the scientific world where modern measurements are nearly always made using the International System of Units, thermodynamic temperature is measured using the Kelvin scale. The Rankine scale is part of English engineering units and finds use in certain engineering fields, particularly in legacy reference works. The Rankine scale uses the degree Rankine (symbol: °R) as its unit, which
12450-463: The SI revision was no accident; the final value of the Boltzmann constant was determined, in part, through clever experiments with argon and helium that used the triple point of water for their key reference temperature. Notwithstanding the 2019 revision, water triple-point cells continue to serve in modern thermometry as exceedingly precise calibration references at 273.16 K and 0.01 °C. Moreover,
12600-497: The SI was primarily for the purpose of decoupling much of the SI system's definitional underpinnings from the kilogram , which was the last physical artifact defining an SI base unit (a platinum/iridium cylinder stored under three nested bell jars in a safe located in France) and which had highly questionable stability. The solution required that four physical constants, including the Boltzmann constant, be definitionally fixed. Assigning
12750-448: The WHIM, gas shocks are created as a result of active galactic nuclei , along with the gravitationally-driven processes of merging and accretion. Part of the gravitational energy supplied by these effects is converted into thermal emissions of the matter by collisionless shock heating . Because of the high temperature of the medium, the expectation is that it is most easily observed from
12900-592: The absolute zero of temperature. Examples are the International SI temperature scale, the Rankine temperature scale , and the thermodynamic temperature scale. Other temperature scales have their numerical zero far from the absolute zero of temperature. Examples are the Fahrenheit scale and the Celsius scale. At the zero point of thermodynamic temperature, absolute zero , the particle constituents of matter have minimal motion and can become no colder. Absolute zero, which
13050-475: The absorption or emission of ultraviolet and low energy X-ray radiation. To locate the WHIM, researchers examined X-ray observations of a rapidly growing supermassive black hole known as an active galactic nucleus, or AGN. Oxygen atoms in the WHIM were seen to absorb X-rays passing through the medium. In May 2010, a giant reservoir of WHIM was detected by the Chandra X-ray Observatory lying along
13200-504: The amount of internal energy that substance absorbs for a given temperature rise. This property is known as a substance's specific heat capacity . Different molecules absorb different amounts of internal energy for each incremental increase in temperature; that is, they have different specific heat capacities. High specific heat capacity arises, in part, because certain substances' molecules possess more internal degrees of freedom than others do. For instance, room-temperature nitrogen , which
13350-421: The atom precisely at absolute zero, imperceptible jostling due to zero-point energy would cause it to very slightly wander, but the atom would perpetually be located, on average, at the same spot within the field of view. This is analogous to a boat that has had its motor turned off and is now bobbing slightly in relatively calm and windless ocean waters; even though the boat randomly drifts to and fro, it stays in
13500-412: The average translational kinetic energy of a freely moving particle in a system with temperature T will be 3 k B T /2 . Molecules, such as oxygen (O 2 ), have more degrees of freedom than single spherical atoms: they undergo rotational and vibrational motions as well as translations. Heating results in an increase of temperature due to an increase in the average translational kinetic energy of
13650-411: The body is described by stating its entropy S as a function of its internal energy U , and other state variables V , N , with S = S ( U , V , N ) , then the reciprocal of the temperature is equal to the partial derivative of the entropy with respect to the internal energy: The above definition, equation (1), of the absolute temperature, is due to Kelvin. It refers to systems closed to
13800-483: The boiling point of mercury , a mercury-in-glass thermometer is impracticable. Most materials expand with temperature increase, but some materials, such as water, contract with temperature increase over some specific range, and then they are hardly useful as thermometric materials. A material is of no use as a thermometer near one of its phase-change temperatures, for example, its boiling-point. In spite of these limitations, most generally used practical thermometers are of
13950-408: The constituent molecules. The magnitude of the kelvin is now defined in terms of kinetic theory, derived from the value of the Boltzmann constant . Kinetic theory provides a microscopic account of temperature for some bodies of material, especially gases, based on macroscopic systems' being composed of many microscopic particles, such as molecules and ions of various species, the particles of
14100-501: The constituent particles of matter, so that they have a limiting specific heat of zero for zero temperature, according to the third law of thermodynamics. Nevertheless, a thermodynamic temperature does in fact have a definite numerical value that has been arbitrarily chosen by tradition and is dependent on the property of particular materials; it is simply less arbitrary than relative "degrees" scales such as Celsius and Fahrenheit . Being an absolute scale with one fixed point (zero), there
14250-410: The containing wall. The spectrum of velocities has to be measured, and the average calculated from that. It is not necessarily the case that the particles that escape and are measured have the same velocity distribution as the particles that remain in the bulk of the system, but sometimes a good sample is possible. Temperature is one of the principal quantities in the study of thermodynamics . Formerly,
14400-426: The cycle the working body is in a state of thermodynamic equilibrium. The successive processes of the cycle are thus imagined to run reversibly with no entropy production . Then the quantity of entropy taken in from the hot reservoir when the working body is heated is equal to that passed to the cold reservoir when the working body is cooled. Then the absolute or thermodynamic temperatures, T 1 and T 2 , of
14550-442: The definition just stated, was printed in 1853, a paper read in 1851. Numerical details were formerly settled by making one of the heat reservoirs a cell at the triple point of water, which was defined to have an absolute temperature of 273.16 K. Nowadays, the numerical value is instead obtained from measurement through the microscopic statistical mechanical international definition, as above. In thermodynamic terms, temperature
14700-690: The effects of zero-point energy. Such are the consequences of statistical mechanics and the nature of thermodynamics. As mentioned above, there are other ways molecules can jiggle besides the three translational degrees of freedom that imbue substances with their kinetic temperature. As can be seen in the animation at right, molecules are complex objects; they are a population of atoms and thermal agitation can strain their internal chemical bonds in three different ways: via rotation, bond length, and bond angle movements; these are all types of internal degrees of freedom . This makes molecules distinct from monatomic substances (consisting of individual atoms) like
14850-863: The empirically based kind. Especially, it was used for calorimetry , which contributed greatly to the discovery of thermodynamics. Nevertheless, empirical thermometry has serious drawbacks when judged as a basis for theoretical physics. Empirically based thermometers, beyond their base as simple direct measurements of ordinary physical properties of thermometric materials, can be re-calibrated, by use of theoretical physical reasoning, and this can extend their range of adequacy. Theoretically based temperature scales are based directly on theoretical arguments, especially those of kinetic theory and thermodynamics. They are more or less ideally realized in practically feasible physical devices and materials. Theoretically based temperature scales are used to provide calibrating standards for practical empirically based thermometers. In physics,
15000-475: The evaporation of just 20 mm of water from a 1.29-meter-deep pool chills its water 8.4 °C (15.1 °F). The total energy of all translational and internal particle motions, including that of conduction electrons, plus the potential energy of phase changes, plus zero-point energy of a substance comprise the internal energy of it. As a substance cools, different forms of internal energy and their related effects simultaneously decrease in magnitude:
15150-413: The following hypothetical thought experiment, as illustrated in Fig. 2.5 at left, with an atom that is exceedingly close to absolute zero. Imagine peering through a common optical microscope set to 400 power, which is about the maximum practical magnification for optical microscopes. Such microscopes generally provide fields of view a bit over 0.4 mm in diameter. At the center of the field of view
15300-485: The form of phonons (see Fig. 4 at right). Phonons are constrained, quantized wave packets that travel at the speed of sound of a given substance. The manner in which phonons interact within a solid determines a variety of its properties, including its thermal conductivity. In electrically insulating solids, phonon-based heat conduction is usually inefficient and such solids are considered thermal insulators (such as glass, plastic, rubber, ceramic, and rock). This
15450-455: The formulation of the first law of thermodynamics. Carnot had no sound understanding of heat and no specific concept of entropy. He wrote of 'caloric' and said that all the caloric that passed from the hot reservoir was passed into the cold reservoir. Kelvin wrote in his 1848 paper that his scale was absolute in the sense that it was defined "independently of the properties of any particular kind of matter". His definitive publication, which sets out
15600-494: The hotness manifold. When two systems in thermal contact are at the same temperature no heat transfers between them. When a temperature difference does exist heat flows spontaneously from the warmer system to the colder system until they are in thermal equilibrium . Such heat transfer occurs by conduction or by thermal radiation. Experimental physicists, for example Galileo and Newton , found that there are indefinitely many empirical temperature scales . Nevertheless,
15750-419: The internal energy at a point, while when local thermodynamic equilibrium prevails, it makes good sense to speak of the temperature at a point. Consequently, the temperature can vary from point to point in a medium that is not in global thermodynamic equilibrium, but in which there is local thermodynamic equilibrium. Thus, when local thermodynamic equilibrium prevails in a body, the temperature can be regarded as
15900-442: The international absolute scale for measuring temperature, and the unit of measure kelvin (unit symbol: K) for specific values along the scale. The kelvin is also used for denoting temperature intervals (a span or difference between two temperatures) as per the following example usage: "A 60/40 tin/lead solder is non-eutectic and is plastic through a range of 5 kelvins as it solidifies." A temperature interval of one degree Celsius
16050-409: The internationally agreed conventional temperature scale is called the Kelvin scale. It is calibrated through the internationally agreed and prescribed value of the Boltzmann constant, referring to motions of microscopic particles, such as atoms, molecules, and electrons, constituent in the body whose temperature is to be measured. In contrast with the thermodynamic temperature scale invented by Kelvin,
16200-410: The kelvin was redefined by international agreement in 2019 in terms of phenomena that are now understood as manifestations of the kinetic energy of free motion of microscopic particles such as atoms, molecules, and electrons. From the thermodynamic viewpoint, for historical reasons, because of how it is defined and measured, this microscopic kinetic definition is regarded as an "empirical" temperature. It
16350-541: The latent heat of available phase transitions is liberated as a substance changes from a less ordered state to a more ordered state; the translational motions of atoms and molecules diminish (their kinetic energy or temperature decreases); the internal motions of molecules diminish (their internal energy or temperature decreases); conduction electrons (if the substance is an electrical conductor) travel somewhat slower; and black-body radiation's peak emittance wavelength increases (the photons' energy decreases). When particles of
16500-407: The lattice. Chemical bonds are all-or-nothing forces: they either hold fast, or break; there is no in-between state. Consequently, when a substance is at its melting point, every joule of added thermal energy only breaks the bonds of a specific quantity of its atoms or molecules, converting them into a liquid of precisely the same temperature; no kinetic energy is added to translational motion (which
16650-428: The magnitude of the kelvin was defined in thermodynamic terms, but nowadays, as mentioned above, it is defined in terms of kinetic theory. The thermodynamic temperature is said to be absolute for two reasons. One is that its formal character is independent of the properties of particular materials. The other reason is that its zero is, in a sense, absolute, in that it indicates absence of microscopic classical motion of
16800-467: The mean average kinetic energy of a specific kind of particle motion known as translational motion . These simple movements in the three X, Y, and Z–axis dimensions of space means the particles move in the three spatial degrees of freedom . This particular form of kinetic energy is sometimes referred to as kinetic temperature . Translational motion is but one form of heat energy and is what gives gases not only their temperature, but also their pressure and
16950-419: The mechanisms of operation of the thermometers. For experimental physics, hotness means that, when comparing any two given bodies in their respective separate thermodynamic equilibria , any two suitably given empirical thermometers with numerical scale readings will agree as to which is the hotter of the two given bodies, or that they have the same temperature. This does not require the two thermometers to have
17100-440: The melting point of water and that the triple point of water had long been experimentally determined to be indistinguishably close to 0.01 °C), the difference between the Celsius scale and Kelvin scale is accepted as 273.15 kelvins; which is to say, 0 °C corresponds to 273.15 kelvins. The net effect of this as well as later resolutions was twofold: 1) they defined absolute zero as precisely 0 K, and 2) they defined that
17250-418: The melting point of water ice (0 °C and 273.15 K) is 491.67 °R. To convert temperature intervals (a span or difference between two temperatures), the formulas from the preceding paragraph are applicable; for instance, an interval of 5 kelvin is precisely equal to an interval of 9 degrees Rankine. For 65 years, between 1954 and the 2019 revision of the SI , a temperature interval of one kelvin
17400-444: The middle of the nineteenth century. Empirically based temperature scales rely directly on measurements of simple macroscopic physical properties of materials. For example, the length of a column of mercury, confined in a glass-walled capillary tube, is dependent largely on temperature and is the basis of the very useful mercury-in-glass thermometer. Such scales are valid only within convenient ranges of temperature. For example, above
17550-435: The molecules. Heating will also cause, through equipartitioning , the energy associated with vibrational and rotational modes to increase. Thus a diatomic gas will require more energy input to increase its temperature by a certain amount, i.e. it will have a greater heat capacity than a monatomic gas. As noted above, the speed of sound in a gas can be calculated from the gas's molecular character, temperature, pressure, and
17700-406: The monatomic gases. Heat energy is born in all available degrees of freedom; this is in accordance with the equipartition theorem , so all available internal degrees of freedom have the same temperature as their three external degrees of freedom. However, the property that gives all gases their pressure , which is the net force per unit area on a container arising from gas particles recoiling off it,
17850-496: The nature shown above in Fig. 1 . As can be seen in that animation, not only does momentum (heat) diffuse throughout the volume of the gas through serial collisions, but entire molecules or atoms can move forward into new territory, bringing their kinetic energy with them. Consequently, temperature differences equalize throughout gases very quickly—especially for light atoms or molecules; convection speeds this process even more. Translational motion in solids , however, takes
18000-400: The noise-power is directly proportional to the temperature of the resistor and to the value of its resistance and to the noise bandwidth. In a given frequency band, the noise-power has equal contributions from every frequency and is called Johnson noise . If the value of the resistance is known then the temperature can be found. Historically, till May 2019, the definition of the Kelvin scale
18150-423: The point chosen as zero degrees and the magnitudes of the incremental unit of temperature. The Celsius scale (°C) is used for common temperature measurements in most of the world. It is an empirical scale that developed historically, which led to its zero point 0 °C being defined as the freezing point of water , and 100 °C as the boiling point of water, both at atmospheric pressure at sea level. It
18300-454: The presently conventional Kelvin temperature is not defined through comparison with the temperature of a reference state of a standard body, nor in terms of macroscopic thermodynamics. Apart from the absolute zero of temperature, the Kelvin temperature of a body in a state of internal thermodynamic equilibrium is defined by measurements of suitably chosen of its physical properties, such as have precisely known theoretical explanations in terms of
18450-466: The proportion of particles moving at a given speed within this range is determined by probability as described by the Maxwell–Boltzmann distribution . The graph shown here in Fig. 2 shows the speed distribution of 5500 K helium atoms. They have a most probable speed of 4.780 km/s (0.2092 s/km). However, a certain proportion of atoms at any given instant are moving faster while others are moving relatively slowly; some are momentarily at
18600-456: The radiant power as it does at 296 K (room temperature). This is why one can so easily feel the radiant heat from hot objects at a distance. At higher temperatures, such as those found in an incandescent lamp , black-body radiation can be the principal mechanism by which thermal energy escapes a system. The table below shows various points on the thermodynamic scale, in order of increasing temperature. The kinetic energy of particle motion
18750-546: The real-world effects that ZPE has on substances can vary as one alters a thermodynamic system (for example, due to ZPE, helium won't freeze unless under a pressure of at least 2.5 MPa (25 bar )), ZPE is very much a form of thermal energy and may properly be included when tallying a substance's internal energy. Though there have been many other temperature scales throughout history, there have been only two scales for measuring thermodynamic temperature which have absolute zero as their null point (0): The Kelvin scale and
18900-403: The reservoirs are defined such that The zeroth law of thermodynamics allows this definition to be used to measure the absolute or thermodynamic temperature of an arbitrary body of interest, by making the other heat reservoir have the same temperature as the body of interest. Kelvin's original work postulating absolute temperature was published in 1848. It was based on the work of Carnot, before
19050-474: The resultant collisions by atoms or molecules with small particles suspended in a fluid produces Brownian motion that can be seen with an ordinary microscope. The translational motions of elementary particles are very fast and temperatures close to absolute zero are required to directly observe them. For instance, when scientists at the NIST achieved a record-setting cold temperature of 700 nK (billionths of
19200-416: The same spot in the long term and makes no headway through the water. Accordingly, an atom that was precisely at absolute zero would not be "motionless", and yet, a statistically significant collection of such atoms would have zero net kinetic energy available to transfer to any other collection of atoms. This is because regardless of the kinetic temperature of the second collection of atoms, they too experience
19350-420: The skin with releasing a large amount of energy (enthalpy) to the environment including the skin, resulting in skin damage. In the opposite direction, this is why one's skin feels cool as liquid water on it evaporates (a process that occurs at a sub-ambient wet-bulb temperature that is dependent on relative humidity ); the water evaporation on the skin takes a large amount of energy from the environment including
19500-403: The skin, reducing the skin temperature. Water's highly energetic enthalpy of vaporization is also an important factor underlying why solar pool covers (floating, insulated blankets that cover swimming pools when the pools are not in use) are so effective at reducing heating costs: they prevent evaporation. (In other words, taking energy from water when it is evaporated is limited.) For instance,
19650-416: The specific cases of melting and freezing, it is called enthalpy of fusion or heat of fusion . If the molecular bonds in a crystal lattice are strong, the heat of fusion can be relatively great, typically in the range of 6 to 30 kJ per mole for water and most of the metallic elements. If the substance is one of the monatomic gases (which have little tendency to form molecular bonds) the heat of fusion
19800-453: The spectrum of their velocities often nearly obeys a theoretical law called the Maxwell–Boltzmann distribution , which gives a well-founded measurement of temperatures for which the law holds. There have not yet been successful experiments of this same kind that directly use the Fermi–Dirac distribution for thermometry, but perhaps that will be achieved in the future. The speed of sound in
19950-472: The square of velocity, nearly all the kinetic energy goes into the bullet, not the rifle, even though both experience the same force from the expanding propellant gases. In the same manner, because they are much less massive, thermal energy is readily borne by mobile conduction electrons. Additionally, because they are delocalized and very fast, kinetic thermal energy conducts extremely quickly through metals with abundant conduction electrons. Thermal radiation
20100-407: The study by methods of classical irreversible thermodynamics, a body is usually spatially and temporally divided conceptually into 'cells' of small size. If classical thermodynamic equilibrium conditions for matter are fulfilled to good approximation in such a 'cell', then it is homogeneous and a temperature exists for it. If this is so for every 'cell' of the body, then local thermodynamic equilibrium
20250-448: The thermodynamic temperature scale, absolute zero, was reaffirmed as the point at which zero average kinetic energy remains in a sample; the only remaining particle motion being that comprising random vibrations due to zero-point energy. Temperature scales are numerical. The numerical zero of a temperature scale is not bound to the absolute zero of temperature. Nevertheless, some temperature scales have their numerical zero coincident with
20400-428: The transfer of matter and has a special emphasis on directly experimental procedures. A presentation of thermodynamics by Gibbs starts at a more abstract level and deals with systems open to the transfer of matter; in this development of thermodynamics, the equations (2) and (3) above are actually alternative definitions of temperature. Real-world bodies are often not in thermodynamic equilibrium and not homogeneous. For
20550-402: The triple point of special isotopically controlled water called Vienna Standard Mean Ocean Water occurred at precisely 273.16 K and 0.01 °C. One effect of the aforementioned resolutions was that the melting point of water, while very close to 273.15 K and 0 °C, was not a defining value and was subject to refinement with more precise measurements. The 1954 BIPM standard did
20700-422: The triple point of water remains one of the 14 calibration points comprising ITS‑90, which spans from the triple point of hydrogen (13.8033 K) to the freezing point of copper (1,357.77 K), which is a nearly hundredfold range of thermodynamic temperature. The thermodynamic temperature of any bulk quantity of a substance (a statistically significant quantity of particles) is directly proportional to
20850-436: The two-way exchange of kinetic energy between internal motions and translational motions with each molecular collision. Accordingly, as internal energy is removed from molecules, both their kinetic temperature (the kinetic energy of translational motion) and their internal temperature simultaneously diminish in equal proportions. This phenomenon is described by the equipartition theorem , which states that for any bulk quantity of
21000-428: The value of the Boltzmann constant as a primarily defined reference of exactly defined value, a measurement of the speed of sound can provide a more precise measurement of the temperature of the gas. Measurement of the spectrum of electromagnetic radiation from an ideal three-dimensional black body can provide an accurate temperature measurement because the frequency of maximum spectral radiance of black-body radiation
21150-683: The vast majority of their volume. This relationship between the temperature, pressure, and volume of gases is established by the ideal gas law 's formula pV = nRT and is embodied in the gas laws . Though the kinetic energy borne exclusively in the three translational degrees of freedom comprise the thermodynamic temperature of a substance, molecules, as can be seen in Fig. 3 , can have other degrees of freedom, all of which fall under three categories: bond length, bond angle, and rotational. All three additional categories are not necessarily available to all molecules, and even for molecules that can experience all three, some can be "frozen out" below
21300-433: The wall-shaped structure of galaxies ( Sculptor Wall ) some 400 million light-years from Earth. In 2018, observations of highly-ionized extragalactic oxygen atoms appeared to confirm simulations of the WHIM mass distribution. Observations for dispersion from fast radio bursts in 2020, further appeared to confirm the missing baryonic mass to be located at the WHIM. Conceptually similar to WHIM, circumgalactic medium ( CGM )
21450-405: The wavelength of its emitted black-body radiation . Absolute temperature is also useful when calculating chemical reaction rates (see Arrhenius equation ). Furthermore, absolute temperature is typically used in cryogenics and related phenomena like superconductivity , as per the following example usage: "Conveniently, tantalum's transition temperature ( T c ) of 4.4924 kelvin is slightly above
21600-411: The zeroth law of thermodynamics. In particular, when the body is described by stating its internal energy U , an extensive variable, as a function of its entropy S , also an extensive variable, and other state variables V , N , with U = U ( S , V , N ), then the temperature is equal to the partial derivative of the internal energy with respect to the entropy: Likewise, when
21750-536: Was addressed by the International Temperature Scale of 1990 , or ITS‑90, which defined 13 additional points, from 13.8033 K, to 1,357.77 K. While definitional, ITS‑90 had—and still has—some challenges, partly because eight of its extrapolated values depend upon the melting or freezing points of metal samples, which must remain exceedingly pure lest their melting or freezing points be affected—usually depressed. The 2019 revision of
21900-566: Was adopted because in practice it can generally be measured more precisely than can Kelvin's thermodynamic temperature. A thermodynamic temperature of zero is of particular importance for the third law of thermodynamics . By convention, it is reported on the Kelvin scale of temperature in which the unit of measurement is the kelvin (unit symbol: K). For comparison, a temperature of 295 K corresponds to 21.85 °C and 71.33 °F. Thermodynamic temperature, as distinct from SI temperature,
22050-432: Was called a centigrade scale because of the 100-degree interval. Since the standardization of the kelvin in the International System of Units, it has subsequently been redefined in terms of the equivalent fixing points on the Kelvin scale, so that a temperature increment of one degree Celsius is the same as an increment of one kelvin, though numerically the scales differ by an exact offset of 273.15. The Fahrenheit scale
22200-597: Was defined as 1 / 273.16 the difference between the triple point of water and absolute zero. The 1954 resolution by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (known by the French-language acronym BIPM), plus later resolutions and publications, defined the triple point of water as precisely 273.16 K and acknowledged that it was "common practice" to accept that due to previous conventions (namely, that 0 °C had long been defined as
22350-421: Was defined to be exactly 273.16 K . Since May 2019, that value has not been fixed by definition but is to be measured through microscopic phenomena, involving the Boltzmann constant, as described above. The microscopic statistical mechanical definition does not have a reference temperature. A material on which a macroscopically defined temperature scale may be based is the ideal gas . The pressure exerted by
22500-411: Was that invented by Kelvin, based on a ratio of quantities of energy in processes in an ideal Carnot engine, entirely in terms of macroscopic thermodynamics. That Carnot engine was to work between two temperatures, that of the body whose temperature was to be measured, and a reference, that of a body at the temperature of the triple point of water. Then the reference temperature, that of the triple point,
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