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Scientists Achieve Record Temperature 280 Billion Times Colder Than Space
Confirmed
In Short: Scientists aboard China's Tiangong space station achieved a record temperature of 9.7 picokelvins, about 280 billion times colder than the average temperature of space.
Scientists aboard China's Tiangong space station have achieved a record temperature of 9.7 picokelvins, about 280 billion times colder than the average temperature of space, according to a paper published in the journal Science.
The average background temperature of the universe is around 2.7 kelvins, or -270.45 degrees Celsius (-454.81 Fahrenheit), due to leftover radiation from the universe's birth approximately 13.8 billion years ago.
The researchers claim this is the lowest equivalent temperature ever measured, even colder than the coldest known regions of space.
The experiment was conducted in a Bose-Einstein condensate, a state of matter that forms at extremely low temperatures.
Scientists have been studying how life could have survived the Cryogenian era, which includes the Snowball Earth period, about 700 million years ago.
The researchers estimate that sea temperatures during Snowball Earth were about 5°F (minus 15°C), about 22°F (12°C) cooler than the coldest ocean temperatures today.
Scientists have discovered that consuming beverages at very high temperatures can increase the risk of esophageal cancer, with temperatures dropping to about 90 or 95 degrees Celsius once poured into a cup.
New research suggests that the Sun may produce temperatures as high as 11 mega kelvins, indicating that scientists may have underestimated its thermal power.
The research also points to a crucial factor in Greenland’s future: how long higher temperatures persist, with climate projections suggesting warmth could last for hundreds or thousands of years.
Scientists with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Ecosystems have assessed the world’s shallow coral reefs, finding that global coverage of living corals has declined 50% since the 1950s.
A new simulation shows black holes can be born already about a million times heavier than the sun, skipping the slow buildup scientists long assumed was necessary.
What this adds
The team's achievement is the latest in a series of record-breaking experiments in extreme temperatures, including previous findings on the coldest temperatures in space.
Background
Scientists have also discovered that consuming beverages at very high temperatures can increase the risk of esophageal cancer.
Scientists aboard China's Tiangong space station achieved a record-low temperature of about 10 trillionths of a kelvin in a Bose-Einstein condensate experiment.
What's confirmed
- Scientists reach record temperature of 9.7 picokelvins aboard China's Tiangong space station, according to a paper published in the journal Science.
- The closer scientists get, the harder it becomes to remove the remaining thermal energy.
- Physicists on China's Tiangong space station measured an equivalent temperature of 9.7 picokelvins, about 280 billion times lower than the background temperature of space.
What's still developing
- Unlike the speed of light, it cannot be reached at all.
- By analyzing data from rock deposits, the study’s authors estimate that sea temperatures were 5°F (minus 15°C).
- But the deposits during Snowball Earth had much heavier iron particles than layers of iron that were deposited on ocean rocks about 2.4 billion years ago; Hoffman wondered if the temperature's that existed in the Snowball ocean caused these iron deposits.
- Now, scientists have found a new way to watch the transformation unfold in real time.
- During a return to Earth, a spacecraft traveling at hypersonic speeds pushes through the atmosphere and exposes its heat shield to temperatures above 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit (1,650 degrees Celsius).
- “Directly observing how heat shield materials degrade during heating with this technique has been transformative for atmospheric entry research since it gives us unique insights and helps us visualize the internal structural changes that drive ablation as it occurs,” said Vishnu Oruganti, who was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign at the time of the study and is now a researcher at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Sources
- JournalArtalink
- National Geographiclink
- ScienceAlertlink
- Newslink
- Dailygalaxylink
- Newscenterlink
- Mundoamericalink
- Popscilink
- Thedebrieflink
- Scitechdailylink
- Gizmodolink
- Studyfindslink
- WarpBeat — background on Scientists Reach Record-Cold Temperature and Discover Unusually Colored Stars link
- WarpBeat — background on Chinese Scientists Set Record for Coldest Temperature in Space link