XPost: sci.physics, sci.astro   
   From: "dlzc@aol.com   
      
   Dear mmeron:   
      
    wrote in message   
   news:fb4Cb.14$_4.12033@news.uchicago.edu...   
   > In article <_PFBb.43014$YJ6.563208@wagner.videotron.net>, "Greg Neill"   
    writes:   
   ..   
   > >Quantum mechanics says you can't ever completely eliminate   
   > >tiny jiggles of the constituent particles, so the temperature   
   > >of a collection of particles can never reach absolute zero.   
   > >   
   > And that's quite wrong.  If a system is at its lowest possible state,   
   > it is at zero temperature.   
      
   Not to feed any flames...   
   A system could be a dewar of a substance that we have deemed to be at its   
   lowest energy state.  With the little "jigglings", would it be meaningful   
   within our system (that little Universe sub-set) to ascribe non-zero   
   "local" temperature?  So, is temperature relative?   
      
   David A. Smith   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)