eli5: Why is it temperatures can go up to the trillions but only down to -273?

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eli5: Why is it temperatures can go up to the trillions but only down to -273?

In: Physics

35 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Another way of looking at it is, temperature can be measured in Kelvin, which ranges from 0 to (trillions) humans evolved on earth, where temperatures range relatively close to 0K (on a cosmic scale). We live roughly between 273K and 300K. We call those temperatures 0C and 27C because it’s just more convenient to use a scale that’s based around our normal temperature. Using a celsius scale, the coldest you can get is -273C.

A civilization that evolved to live at 1 trillion K might ask why temperatures barely ever get hotter than “normal temperature”, but can go all the way down to -1,000,000,000,000

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