Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-05-02
Wonderful Facts About
Absolute Zero
RN Gnrrctt p. Scryiss

1T has been said that all matter
( disappears when temperature OF
/ 273 below zero on the centigradc
/ scale is reached. Is this possible.
! and if so how can it be eNpla ned -
! DeuXaunes. Newark, y. j.
/ Nobody knows what would hap
! pen to matter at the absolute zero
1 of temperature, which is theoreti-
/ cally placed at 273C, or 459F. We
! have no experience of absolute zero.
/ Physicists have never been able to
reach all the way down to absolute
zero in their experiments. They
/ have arrived within about three de
grccs OF it. but to traverse those
last three degrees IS incomparably
moro difficult than all the rest Of
the descent, and perhaps it will
provo to he impossible.
Arrived there. it IS assured that
matter will become totally inert, or
chemically inactive, and it has been
questioned whether such dead
matter could continue TO exist as
matter at all. The suggestion has
been made that at the temperature
of absolute zero, i. e., at the point
of no perature at all, the par
tiCles composing matter of all kinds
might cease to possess cohesive
force, and then. as Gustav lie Bon
has put it, "onC does not very well
see what would become of matter"
1t looks like a very short road TO
annihilaticu: simply drop to abso-
lUtc zorro and nothing is left. This
is about equivalent to saying that
there is nothing in existence except
energy. matter itself he ng state,
or condition of energy. l'or the
word energy substitute "electric-
ltN' and YOU have the statement in
Il form which is often encountered
nowadays.
II absolute zero represents the
temperature condition. or condition
of no temperature, of intcrstcllar
space. while at the same time space
Is filled with Il medium" which we
call the ether, then that medium can
hardly be matter" in any ordinary
sense, while the free movement
through it of the heavenly bodies.
and it, own apparent free movement
through the substance OF all bodies.
thus lind a ready explanation. TO
be annihilatcd, according to this
view. it would simply be necessary
to he turned TO ether, and to he (
turned into ether all that YOU would
have TO do would be to drop. thcr- |
mometrically. to absolute zero.
Yet. after all. the ether must he |
something. since according to the
prevailing theories of science. it con |
yeEs light, electricity, etc, in tho
form of waves, and these waves arc (
capable OF affecting matter as for in
stance when they produce the SEN
SatlOn OF light in our eyes. or are !
transformed into the vibration of !
neat on encountering an absorbing
substance, or when they make their !
impressions upon the receiving in
strumcnts in wireless tefegraphy.
The way i'm which the existence
OF an absolute zero of temperature
rs theoretically inferred, although
IL mas not been eXperimentally |
proved Is this: Heat being re-
garded an effect due solely to mi
mute vibration of the invisible mole |
culeS OF a body, it follows that n
body whose molecules possessed no
VIBRATION would have no heat. Now
proceeding from what happens with
matter in the gaseous state. wherein
the pressure produced by the mole
cular vibration is measurable. a law
OF relationship between the temper
AZURE ana the pressure has been ex-
perimentally established.
This law states that gases con-
tract by one 273rd part of their
volume for every centigrade degree
that their temperature falls: or that
If the volume is kept constant the
pressure disminishes by one 273rd
part for each fall of one degree In
the temperature. So, If you start
with the temperature of ordinary
zero, or at the freezing point, then, |
when the temperature has faIIan o-o
degrees fhara will l., |
left, which is the same thing as saw
ing that the molecular Vibration
VIII have entirely ceased. and this
last statement means, of course ,,
that there will be no heat The
law, though derived from the studv
OF matter in the gaseous state. an.
plies to the solid state also.
Inc extraordinary changes which
the physical properties of bodies mn
dergo when their Temperature ie re-
duced to point approaching abso-
lutte zero furnishes an argument ia
Norlng a suggestion that if the ahso-
Lutte zero itself could be attained tho
properties would be so compIetaIv
altered that the matter involved
would no longer be recognizable 40
matter, and might disappear from
the material world. But it would
continue to be matter, however rare
or scattered it might be, as long 40
its atoms were not destroyed.
To be reduced to the supposed
condition of the ether it would need
to lose its atomic structure and even
the ultimate particles, or the cleo.
troms composing the atoms. would
have to be resolved into something
more elementary still, the real ma
ture OF which would not be rendered.
evident to our minds by calling II
electricity. These are very deep wa
ters, but perhaps science may ono
dav touch bottom.