Alright, try to remember the hottest you've ever felt!
Oh, the stifling heat and irking sensation of sweat trickling down your back and forehead.
But if you think that was hot, what if I tell you there are things in our Universe that
are literally billions of times hotter?
No I’m not trying to sell you a timeshare on the Sun!
But it’s a hot story!
As you may know, the Solar System itself can be a pretty scorching place.
The average temperature of the Earth's core reaches a blazing 10,800 degrees F, which
is 800 degrees higher than the surface of the Sun!
As for the Sun's super-hot center, it heats up to 27,000,000 degrees F!
But in terms of the Universe, these temperatures are “meh” -- nowhere near "hot" in comparison
with a supernova!
A supernova is the very last stage of a star's life, which ends in a gigantic explosion.
This explosion is the largest in space, and it unleashes enormous amounts of energy.
Therefore, the temperature at the core of a supernova is an incredible 6,000 times higher
than that of the Sun's core.
And that means it can reach several billion degrees F within microseconds!
After that, atoms get crammed together so infinitely closely that the squeezed core
recoils - and the star explodes, creating a superheated shock wave.
And still, the temperature of a supernova isn't the absolute hottest thing in the Universe,
not even close.
The highest temperature has been discovered - or is it better to say created? - on Earth;
in Switzerland, to be exact.
Yep, however unbelievable it may sound, the hottest temperature in the whole Universe
is man-made!
In 2012, scientists at CERN's Large Hadron Collider crashed the ions of lead to "cook"
a so-called "subatomic soup."
The result was a plasma with an astonishing temperature of 9.9 trillion degrees F!
Just keep in mind that it's about 360,000 times hotter than the center of the Sun, and
approximately 5,000 times hotter than a supernova!
The scientists who’d been working on this project were elated.
This time, they managed to surpass the previous world record of 7.2 trillion degrees F and
create a plasma that was an impressive 38% hotter.
The experiment showed in detail what could’ve happened 13.7 billion years ago, just microseconds
after the Big Bang.
It all sounds really exciting, but you should remember that I've told you about the hottest
temperatures that have ever been recorded.
And no researcher can guarantee that somewhere out there in space, there isn't another phenomenon
which is thousands of times hotter than a supernova, or even the plasma cooked up in
the Large Hadron Collider!
Theoretically, it could get even hotter than that because there is an Absolute Hot.
This temperature has too many zeros for me to pronounce it; and beyond this point, matter
stops behaving like it's supposed to.
(So, it’s doesn’t matter?
Ha) All fundamental forces get unified into one, and bizarre and inexplicable things start
to happen.
The Theory of Everything could probably explain the absurd behavior and new properties of
matter heated to the extreme... if this all-embracing theory had already been discovered, that is.
Anyway, what other super-hot things have you heard about?
Tell me about your findings in the comments below!
And since you know about the hottest things in this Universe now, it would only be fair
to talk about the coldest ones, wouldn't it?
I think we need to chill anyways.
I have to tell you that atoms like - no, love - heat.
They start to race around as soon as they get warmer.
The hotter it gets, the more vigorously they vibrate.
But what if the temperature drops down?
Well, apparently, their movement slows down, depending on how low the temperature is.
Theoretically, there’s a point at which atoms stop moving.
This temperature is called Absolute Zero, and it's equal to 0 degrees Kelvin or -459.67
degrees F. But you should keep in mind that such a temperature is totally hypothetical,
and people have never witnessed anything that cold!
On the other hand, on which I’m wearing a nice warm mitten, several places in the
Solar System come pretty close to Absolute Zero.
For example, craters near the South Pole of the Moon are permanently shadowed and never
see sunlight.
That's why their temperature usually stays around 33 Kelvin or -400 degrees F. And that's
even colder than the temperatures on Pluto, the coldest planet-like object in the Solar
System!
But the most naturally-cold thing in the visible Universe is the mysterious Boomerang Nebula,
(wooo) created by an expiring red giant star.
This nebula is located approximately 5,000 light-years away from the Earth, and its temperature
is considered to be just 1 Kelvin, or -four hundred some degrees F!
(Yep, THAT close to Absolute Zero!)
By the way, the Boomerang Nebula (it keeps coming back) isn't the only mega cold object
floating out there in space.
Don't forget about the cooling leftovers of the Big Bang!
These bits and pieces, which are as cold as -454 degrees F, are still found all over the
Universe.
But do you remember I just said that the Boomerang Nebula is the coldest NATURAL spot in the
Universe?
Well, I said that for a reason.
Let’s see what WAS that reason?
Oh yeah, the thing is that the coldest temperature people have ever recorded was on Earth!
It happened in an Italian underground laboratory, where scientists chilled a 35-cubic-ft chunk
of copper to an incredible 6 millikelvins (and that's only a tiny fraction of a degree
above Absolute Zero)!
In other words, the atoms inside that chunk of copper almost stopped moving!
The researchers managed to reach this result after they put the cube inside a super-cold
special refrigerator called a cryostat, which is capable of keeping things at unimaginably
low temperatures!
Like Vanilla ice cream!
But the most exciting thing is that scientists could maintain this temperature for almost
two weeks.
They wanted to see how neutrinos (which are minuscule subatomic particles) behaved.
Their activity could’ve revealed the secrets of the matter surrounding us.
Hmm...I wonder what happens when neutrinos misbehave?
Do they go to detention?
Stay tuned.
In any case, thank goodness, I'm not likely to ever experience such extreme temperatures
in my lifetime!
But what I CAN do is to travel to the hottest and the coldest places on Earth!
When the temperature dropped to minus 128 degrees F on July 21, 1983, Soviet Vostok
Station, in Antarctica, officially became the place with the lowest ever recorded temperature.
But if we’re talking about something more permanent, then the coldest habitable place
in the world is Oymyakon village in Russia.
There, the temperature often drops below 32 degrees F in September, and it doesn't get
any warmer until the middle of April.
The average winter temperature is -58 degrees F, and the summer season is also chilly.
But at least in June and July, the temperature never falls below 14 degrees F (phew, what
a relief!).
On the other hand, the temperature never ever rises above the freezing point between the
end of October and the middle of March.
But on January 26, 1926, Oymyakon smashed all the records!
The temperature in the village dropped to -96 degrees F, which became the coldest recorded
temperature in the Northern Hemisphere!
And if you’re wondering about the coldest temperature ever recorded in the USA, it happened
in Prospect Creek in central Alaska (surprise-surprise!) on January 23, 1971.
That's when thermometers dropped to -80 degrees F!
Well, I don't know about you, but I'm starting to feel like a popsicle!
How about we move to the hottest place on the Earth?
And by that, I mean Death Valley in California.
Inviting name, eh?
Unfortunately, researchers are still arguing about whether this place holds the record
for the hottest ever recorded surface temperature: 201 degrees F on July 15, 1972.
But even without the record, Death Valley is a place to stay clear of if you’re a
fall weather kinda person.
In July 2018, the average monthly temperature in that area was 108 degrees F. On top of
that, Death Valley holds the record for the most consecutive days with a temperature above
120 degrees: 43 sizzling days!
Another interesting temperature record was made in Spearfish, South Dakota.
On January 22, 1943, they had the most impressive temperature change: from -4 to 45 degrees
F. The temperature difference was 49 degrees F, and it happened within a mere 2 minutes!
The whole town had a hot flash!
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friend!
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Just click to the left or right, and stay on the Bright Side of life!