This is the most extraordinary science article I've ever read. Hoax? If not, why isn't this on the front page of every newspaper?

"Their finding suggests that the previously impossible idea of a combustion engine that is 100 percent efficient may actually be achievable."


http://www.tgdaily.com/general-sciences-......t-hotter

They will never reach absolute zero.

But they already did, tommy, and beyond:

"When they cooled an atomic gas to extreme lows, known as ‘ultracooling’, physicists at the Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich and the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics in Germany created a gas that went beyond absolute zero."

That'll be the day.

Actually, that WAS the day. They already did it.

If he chooses not to acknowledge it, then it didn't happen.

Pretty much the same content in each of the three articles below ... the first is the original:

http://www.mpg.de/6776082/negative_absolute_temperature

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/201......3516.htm

http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/111......-010513/

"The meaning of a negative absolute temperature can best be illustrated with rolling spheres in a hilly landscape, where the valleys stand for a low potential energy and the hills for a high one. The faster the spheres move, the higher their kinetic energy as well: if one starts at positive temperatures and increases the total energy of the spheres by heating them up, the spheres will increasingly spread into regions of high energy. If it were possible to heat the spheres to infinite temperature, there would be an equal probability of finding them at any point in the landscape, irrespective of the potential energy. If one could now add even more energy and thereby heat the spheres even further, they would preferably gather at high-energy states and would be even hotter than at infinite temperature. The Boltzmann distribution would be inverted, and the temperature therefore negative. At first sight it may sound strange that a negative absolute temperature is hotter than a positive one. This is simply a consequence of the historic definition of absolute temperature, however; if it were defined differently, this apparent contradiction would not exist."

Speaking of cold:

http://www.thecoldestjourney.org/home/expedition/

"The 2000-mile journey across the continent has for many years been considered too perilous to try and the expedition's six-man "Ice Team" - led by Sir Ranulph Fiennes - will have to overcome one of earth's most hostile environments if they are to succeed, exposing themselves to temperatures dropping close to -90c and operating in near permanent darkness."

My brains hurt.

Very cool article landmark (and balducci), thank you.

-Mary

What does hotter than infinite temperature mean? As I understand the English language, that is a meaningless statement. (And yes I'm aware of the various kinds of infinity).

That's negative gravity for you.

Bob, don't know the drill yet? If you think it happened, that's a hoax; it didn't really happen. On the other hand, if you think it didn't happen, that's a hoax. It happened.

There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, Pop.

:) How many brains do you have Mary?

Just the one but if you had Cow Brains (not that I'm apt to) for lunch that wouldn't necessarily mean you had more than one cow brain for lunch.

Ha! I had the brains to get out of that one.

Nuff said.

-Mary Mowder

I sent this article to a friend and his reply was that he so glad to hear about it, because as he gets older his energy has dropped to near absolute zero and he's heartened to know that if he hangs on a little longer he'll have more pep than ever!!