Absolute Zero

Discussion

Amontons hypothesized a state devoid of heat in a paper published in 1703.

All systems in thermodynamic equilibrium at absolute zero have vanishing entropy. This principle is called the Nernst heat theorem, or. the third law of thermodynamics. Walther Hermann Nernst (1864-1941) Germany.

It is impossible reduce the temperature of any systems to absolute zero in a finite number of steps.

The Laws of Thermodynamics

  1. There is a game.
  2. You can't win.
  3. You must lose.
  4. You can't quit.

Onnes' helium liquefaction cascade: chloromethane, ethylene, oxygen, liquid air, hydrogen, helium. Onnes had a monopoly on the production of liquid helium

William Francis Giauque & Peter Joseph William Debye, adiabatic demagnetization of paramagnetic salts: iron ammonium alum, chromium potassium alum, cerium magnesium nitrate

date kelvin
temperature		 event
1724 233 Cascade series
Gabriel Fahrenheit, Holland
1834 163 Mixture of dry ice, snow, and ether
Charles Thilorier, Paris
1877 133 Droplets of liquid oxygen
Raoul Pictet, Geneva / Louis Cailletet, Paris
1883 90 Measurable quantity of liquid oxygen
Zygmunt Wróblewski & Karol Olszewski, Kraków
1886 54 Oxygen solidified
James Dewar, Robert Lennox & James Heath, London
1898 21 Hydrogen liquefied
James Dewar, Robert Lennox & James Heath, London
1899 14 Hydrogen solidified
James Dewar, Robert Lennox & James Heath, London
1908 4 Helium liquefied
Kamerlingh Onnes, Leiden
1908 1 Evaporation of liquid helium
Kamerlingh Onnes, Leiden
1926 0.95 Helium solidified under 26 atm pressure
Willem Keesom, Leiden
1933 0.53 / 0.27 Adiabatic demagnetization of paramagnetic salts
William Giauque, Berkeley / Wander de Haas, Leiden
1956 16 × 10−6 Adiabatic nuclear demagnetization
Franz Simon & Miklós Kürti, Oxford
1970s ???? ????
????
1980s ???? ????
????
1993
1999
2000		 280 × 10−12
250 × 10−12
100 × 10−12		 Adiabatic nuclear demagnetization of rhodium
Helsinki University of Technology
Cryogenic milestones

superconductivity

superfluidity

 
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