Temperature & Ultra-Cold Atoms - Sixty Symbols

We look at what makes things hot and cold - and look at some of the coldest atoms in the Universe! More physics at http://www.sixtysymbols.com/

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• temperature
• absolute
• zero

[arylios]

CO2 is not V-shaped as he says, it is linear.

[Acd1992]

i have recently talked to a physicist and he corrected my on my previous statement. CO2 and Methane are harmfull for global warming because instead of absorbing the infared rays, then moving, then releasing the energy, CO2 and Methane absorb this energy and do not release it as do any other chemical compound. sorry planet. we have failed you v_v

[CommanderdMtllca]

@307atrain it's because of heisenberg's uncertainty principle. It says that you can't know both the position and velocity with an equal amount of accuracy. So the more you know about one, the less you know about the other. If the atoms completely stop, the speed is 0 and the position is finite so that would break the principle

[iasedu]

@arylios CO2 has vibrational modes that make it V-shaped, just like an oscillator.

[Naddig74]

@Acd1992 The planet will be fine and get over it. We, on the other hand, are in deep guano.

[Liurix945]

I like the red ball.

[possumverde]

They don't mention it but is the experiment they're doing an attempt to create a Bose-Einstein condensate?

[DemonizedTX]

@arylios Perhaps he was thinking about water which is shaped like a V .

[jamesn0va]

@12co3dy21 Theres no lone pairs, the bonds are double so O=C=O

[Aviatorsmith]

@12co3dy21 CO2 is linear. It is water which is tetrahedral giving a 109.5 degree angle. That explains why water is a polar molecule while CO2 has no net electronegativity.

[BruceNJeffAreMyFlies]

@markakroll I would really like to see what they have to say about that to be honest. His opinion of cold is probably alot wider now :P

[arylios]

@12co3dy21

you are wrong. The explanation you give for the lone pairs of oxygen applies for H2O, where the lone pairs of electrons located on the oxygen atom squeeze the angle (H-O-H) of the molecule and that's why the angle is not 109.5 degrees as expected for a perfect tetrahedron. In the CO2 molecule all the bonds are double and there are no lone e pairs on the C atom that would explain a V-shape of the molecule.