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To: Tublecane
Not really.

It's a technicality that isn't new. There are certain systems with anomolous "temperatures" because the thermodynamic definition of temperature isn't quite perfectly defined. It's a macroscopic state variable that doesn't completely line up with the microscopic description of reality (and it isn't supposed to, by the way.)

Simplest example I learned in graduate school was: Under the thermodynamic defintion of temperature, a perfect vacuum is at absolute zero because it can provide no heat to any themral reservoir placed in contact with it, no matter how cold. Thus, a vacuum must be "colder" than anything. But at the same time, it must also be at inifinte temperature, because no thermal reservoir, no matter how hot, placed in contact with it can transfer heat to it. So it has to be hotter than anything else. There are a number of these kinds of anomalies.

5 posted on 01/04/2013 12:44:15 AM PST by FredZarguna (Funded by Arab oil money, so you know it's objective and altruistic.)
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To: FredZarguna

How do you contact a vacuum? There’s nothing to contact.


15 posted on 01/04/2013 7:01:31 AM PST by super7man
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To: FredZarguna

That’s a very interesting way of looking at the properties of a vacuum. Thanks. Haven’t we also come to the conclusion that the ‘ether’ as spoken of in previous centuries may actually be more “real” than we were told through most of the 20th century, as there are quantum fluctuations of space-time that seem to have some rather interesting and peculiar properties.


17 posted on 01/04/2013 7:13:28 AM PST by zeugma (Those of us who work for a living are outnumbered by those who vote for a living.)
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To: FredZarguna
You've just answered the riddle posed by "The 2,000 Year Old Man" ...

Q. What is the greatest invention in history?

A. The Thermos.

Q. The Thermos? Why?

A. It keeps hot foods hot, it keeps cold foods cold.

Q. And why is that so important?

A. How does it know?

Cheers!

27 posted on 01/05/2013 6:03:38 AM PST by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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