Open main menu
Home
Random
Recent changes
Special pages
Community portal
Preferences
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Incubator escapee wiki
Search
User menu
Talk
Dark mode
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Editing
0
(section)
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
==Physics== The value zero plays a special role for many physical quantities. For some quantities, the zero level is naturally distinguished from all other levels, whereas for others it is more or less arbitrarily chosen. For example, for an [[Thermodynamic temperature|absolute temperature]] (typically measured in [[kelvin]]s), [[absolute zero|zero]] is the lowest possible value. ([[Negative temperature]]s can be defined for some physical systems, but negative-temperature systems are not actually colder.) This is in contrast to temperatures on the Celsius scale, for example, where zero is arbitrarily defined to be at the [[Melting point|freezing point]] of water.<ref>{{cite book|first1=Andrew |last1=Rex |first2=C. B. P. |last2=Finn |title=Finn's Thermal Physics |edition=3rd |publisher=CRC Press |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-4987-1887-5 |pages=8β16}}</ref>{{sfn|Kardar|2007|pp=4β5,103β104}} Measuring sound intensity in [[decibel]]s or [[phon]]s, the zero level is arbitrarily set at a reference valueβfor example, at a value for the threshold of hearing. In [[physics]], the [[zero-point energy]] is the lowest possible energy that a [[quantum mechanics|quantum mechanical]] [[physical system]] may possess and is the energy of the [[Stationary state|ground state]] of the system.
Edit summary
(Briefly describe your changes)
By publishing changes, you agree to the
Terms of Use
, and you irrevocably agree to release your contribution under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 License
and the
GFDL
. You agree that a hyperlink or URL is sufficient attribution under the Creative Commons license.
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)