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bugaian bugaian
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11 years ago
Just imagine if you are able to decrease the temprature to such an extent that the kinetic energy of atoms becomes zero.
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wrote...
11 years ago
?273.15 Celsius
wrote...
11 years ago
not even in absolute zero, the kinetic energy is not zero
wrote...
11 years ago
Paraskeve Turiya is correct. According to quantum mechanics, the kinetic energy of an atom cannot go below what it is at absolute zero, but that is not the same as zero kinetic energy.

Even at absolute zero, there will be motion by the electrons as they move in their ground state - their lowest possible "orbit" to express it in terms of the Bohr model of the atom, or "energy shell"  according to later models. The particles in the nucleus too will be moving at absolute zero, also exhibiting some level of kinetic energy.

This conclusion about energy states is an effect of the Heisenburg Uncertainty Principle which states that one cannot know both the speed and location of an electron, effectively, that means that these particles cannot be a rest.
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