Sisyphus Posted February 6, 2009 Posted February 6, 2009 No, temperature is a property of groups of particles.
NowThatWeKnow Posted February 6, 2009 Posted February 6, 2009 No, temperature is a property of groups of particles. So what would a thermometer read in earth orbit if shielded from the Sun? -233C like the dark side of the moon? It sounds like space may not have a temperature but anything it it could.
Klaynos Posted February 6, 2009 Posted February 6, 2009 So what would a thermometer read in earth orbit if shielded from the Sun? -233C like the dark side of the moon? It sounds like space may not have a temperature but anything it it could. How high the the atmosphere, and again what type of thermometer? If you want something measure the temp of the atoms in the adjacent ensemble you will need to shield from more than the sun...
NowThatWeKnow Posted February 7, 2009 Posted February 7, 2009 How high the the atmosphere, and again what type of thermometer? If you want something measure the temp of the atoms in the adjacent ensemble you will need to shield from more than the sun... Personally, I would just like to get a ball park reading off any thermometer with a large scale when 150 miles up and shielded from the Sun's visible light. Would other then visible electomagnetic energy have a large impact on the temperature? When the temperature of the dark side of the moon is taken you don't have to stick the thermometer in the moon's surface to get a reading, do you?
D H Posted February 7, 2009 Posted February 7, 2009 The temperature of the stuff that occupies space and the temperature of an object in that space will not be the same. That is why Klaynos has asked "what kind of thermometer". The Earth's atmosphere extends (very tenuously) over 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) above the Earth's surface. 240 kilometers (150 miles) above the Earth is inside the atmosphere. The temperature of the atmosphere is around 1000o C at that altitude. A "large scale" thermometer would never get that warm. The Space Station, for example (http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2001/ast21mar_1.htm) heats up to about 250o C while sunlit and drops to about -250o C zero when shaded.
Sayonara Posted February 7, 2009 Posted February 7, 2009 It's 250F to -250F according to that link you posted. That is 121C to -157C.
D H Posted February 7, 2009 Posted February 7, 2009 It's 250F to -250F according to that link you posted.That is 121C to -157C. Inability to properly convert Celsius to Fahrenheit notwithstanding, the ISS is not in thermal equilibrium with the ionosphere. Any largish structure in space will not come into thermal equilibrium with the extremely rarified medium that occupies that space. It will instead come into thermal equilibrium with the radiation that courses through that space. An object far from any star will come into thermal equilibrium with the cosmic microwave background radiation, 2.725 Kelvin. An object close to a star (Pluto is close to a star) will come into thermal equilibrium with the radiation emitted by the star.
Baby Astronaut Posted February 12, 2009 Posted February 12, 2009 You can't visit a void and have it still be a void. However your surroundings might be a void. Of course measuring temperature would pollute the Absolute Zero with heat from the temperature-measuring device. In fact, how can you ever measure absolute zero even if it were to really exist? It'd be like the uncertainty principle -- but instead for temperature: you can't measure absolute zero because you'd raise the temperature by the simple act of measurement.
Airbrush Posted February 12, 2009 Posted February 12, 2009 A temp measuring device will not "pollute" the region being measured. A hypothetical region of space that is Absolute Zero will quickly suck all heat out of your measuring device, and will give you a reading of Absolute Zero.
npts2020 Posted February 13, 2009 Posted February 13, 2009 A temp measuring device will not "pollute" the region being measured. A hypothetical region of space that is Absolute Zero will quickly suck all heat out of your measuring device, and will give you a reading of Absolute Zero. IMO that is doubtful. If the measuring device is releasing energy (heat) it has to be releasing it to somewhere i.e. the medium surrounding your measuring device, thereby raising its temperature some incremental amount above absolute zero.
Airbrush Posted February 13, 2009 Posted February 13, 2009 Whatever amount above AZ is negligible and for all practical purposes zero.
swansont Posted February 13, 2009 Posted February 13, 2009 Whatever amount above AZ is negligible and for all practical purposes zero. No such thing as negligible in this context. You can't have a substance at absolute zero; any amount above zero counts, and you can't define a temperature for a non-entity. Any temperature probe, not at zero, will radiate or conduct heat. The situation described is not physically possible.
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