The Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1912-1917, 1912-06-28
The Limit OF cold
Absolute Zero and the Way 1t Is
Defined by Science.
POINT OF MOLECULAR DEATH

AZ foS'f degrees OeloW tne dflrcnnen
and 273 Degrees Below the Cent?
\ grade Zero There Is No Heat, No En-
ergy and No Motion Within Matter
| Few people have any definite idea
| of the meaning of absolute zero.
| When temperatures or degrees of heat
are mentioned it is natural for most
people to think Of these degrees as
| given on the household or Fahrenheit
scale, with its freezing point at 80 de-
| grees and its boiling point at 212.
| The space on the Fahrenheit thermom-
eter below the freezing point of water
is divided into thirty-two equal spaces
| down to zero. The other thermome-
! ter scale in common use is the cent?
| grade scale, with it's boiling point at
100 degrees and its freezing point at
zero. The zero points on these two
scales are not the zero of absolute
| temperature or absolute zero, but are
only two relative points.
Temperature as used and spoken of
in ordinary practice is only relative
and is measured in reference to two
| pOints-the boiling and freezing points
of water at sea level. But science
and scientific investigation requires
another scale for it's measurements.
which has a theoretically correct zero
| point This scale is called the abso-
| lutte scale. with its zero point 273 de-
| grees below the zero of the centigrade
| scale and 1914 degrees below that of
| the Fahrenheit zero. This is what is
meant by the zero of absolute temper
! allure.
Absolute temperature has been de-
| fined. According to science. all mat
| ter is composed Of small particles or
molecules in ceaseless vibration in the
| spaces between them. This molecular
| motion, as it is called. is much greater
in gases than it is in liquids or solids.
and the ultimate particles are farther
apart. The idea of absolute zero and
| the place assigned to it on the absC-
| lutte scale is based on this property of
matteF-motion. In gaseous forms of
| matter the motion is greater because
of the greater space between the parti
cles.
! To illustrate the meaning of this
point and to explain how it was got.
| imagine a volume of air of 273 cubic
| inches at the temperature of freezing
water on the centigrade scale. Heat
| this volume of air to l degree cent?
grade and its volume will have in
creased to 2T4 cubic inches. and if
| heated to , degrees its volume will
| be 2T5 cubic inches Likewise, if the
original volume be cooled / degree be-
low the freezing point of water its
volume will be decreased by one cubic
! inch and become 272 cubic inches
| For every additional decrease of
! degree the volume will contract one
two-hundred and seventy-third part of
what it was TO begin with. so that, if
the cooling Is carried far enough, it Is
easy to see that at 273 degrees below
! the freezing point of water the volume
| will become nothing.
The volume of a gas is due to the
real volume of its individual particles
! together with the volume of the spaces
between these particles. At ordinary
temperatures these particles are in
swift motion. But for every degree
| of cooling this motion is slackened
and the paths of vibration become
shorter. This motion continues down
| TO 2T3 degrees below the centigrade
zero, where the motion has entirely
ceased and the paths Of the particles
! are infinitely short, OF course the gas
under consideration at -oT3 degrees
will have volume due to the sum of
| the volume occupied by the molecular
/ particles themselves.
This 273 degrees then is the abso-
| iute zero. 1t is the point of molecular
death. No heat is there. no energy
and consequently no motion Matter
at this point is entirely motionless
| within itself
The thermometer scales of the world
should be based on it as the logical
starting point. The freezing point OF
water, which is zero on the centigrade
scale, referred to the absolute scale is
-2T3 degrees. while the freezing point
of 80 on the Fahrenheit scale is 1894