The lowest possible temperature is called absolute zero. In theory, subatomic particles would lose all their energy, which is why electrons and protons would come together in what is known as a "quantum soup." The absolute zero temperature is -273.15 ° C or 0 ° Kelvin. At this temperature the internal energy level of the system is the lowest possible, that is why the particles, according to classical mechanics, do not present any type of movement; however, according to quantum mechanics, absolute zero must have a residual energy, which is known as zero point energy. This temperature functions as a starting point for both the Kelvin and Rankine scales.
Lord Kelvin of having made the discovery of absolute zero, and in order to achieve it, it was based on the fact that when a gas is cooled, its volume decreases in proportion to its temperature. In other words, each degree of temperature that the gas drops, also decreases its volume by a certain percentage, it was in this way that he managed to deduce that at a temperature of -273.15 ° C the volume would become zero, something most likely will not reach occur in practice, despite such a statement, several interesting things happen when the temperature is close to absolute zero.
It should be noted that it is not possible to reach the temperature of absolute zero. This is because the third law of thermodynamics sets limits on it. Despite this, in practice it is the heat entering from the “outside world” that prevents lower temperatures from being reached in the experiments. At present, new techniques and experiments are constantly being developed to reach absolute zero, however, what is really interesting in this type of approach is that each attempt leads to the development of science.
In the solar system, scientists have managed to detect temperatures as low as -240 ° C in those areas that are in permanent shadow, such as the craters found at the south pole of the Moon. For its part in the entire universe, the lowest temperature recorded so far can be located in the Boomerang Nebula located almost 5,000 light years from the Earth plant, specifically in the constellation of Centaurus, gases that have been expelled by a dying star they have been quickly watered and cooled down to 1 ° Kelvin.
