Can temperature rise endlessly ?

Lets say you put some matter in an ideal contraption of some sort.
This contraption can hold it regardless what the matter does, expansion etc.
and you start inducing energy to it, making it heat up.
and do that nearly endlessly.
what would happen ?
is there any upper limit given till you cannot heat it up anymore ?

of course this is fictional cause at some point you may loose your contraption or you run out of energy, but assume its an ideal place ... what will happen ?

Anonymous2007-07-12T18:51:34Z

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"Heat" is defined by the Kinetic Molecular Theory as being relevant to the speed the atoms in a substance is moving.

This means that by adding heat, you are in fact speeding up the particles. Eventually, the nucleus is travelling so fast that it loses its electrons, becoming plasma. Should that plasma continue to speed up, it will continue breaking down into smaller and smaller "basic particles"

According to Einstein, anything that reaches the speed of light will develop an infinite mass. Doing this will create a Quantum Singularity.

Also according to Einstein's Theory of Relativity, time for the particles will be going slower and slower (relativistically). As they get faster, the rate of change in noticeable temperature will drop. Needless to say, this experiment will take a long time.

Anonymous2007-07-12T15:55:30Z

No, there is no upper limit.

However, under natural, universal circumstances, there is a temperature known as Planck's Temperature. Planck's Temperature is the highest temperature that any given thing in our universe can reach, because that is the maximum level of potential energy that is/was in our universe. This was the temperature in the universe the first instant after the Big Bang (232 nonillion degrees Fahrenheit). In your situation, since it's a perfect environment, it is possible to exceed this temperature, but the laws of physics break down after this point. Who knows if the stuff that you're heating will even absorb the energy?

Hope that helped.

rohak12122007-07-12T22:55:27Z

Basically the only limit to how hot something can get is how much energy you have to put in, and how much heat the material can survive. So, if you assume your ideal substance can be heated forever without disintegrating, then there is no upper limit to how hot it could get. In practical terms however, every substance in existence does in fact break down. Of course, theoretically you can still heat plasma.

Conversely, there is a limit to how cold things can get. At zero Kelvin (apprxoimately -273 C), all atomic movement stops, and you can't get any colder. Theoretically.

johnandeileen20002007-07-13T10:55:51Z

The singularity that lasted for 10-43 second at the birth of the big bang, must have had the upper limit of temperature before it began to expand and lose some of it's heat, you could probably reach that level but I can't imagine what type of container you would require, however you have covered that angle in your question.

lithiumdeuteride2007-07-12T16:01:04Z

There is no practical upper limit to the temperature of something.

As you heat something, it will go through several stages. If it starts as a solid, it will liquefy, then become a gas. Then electrons will be stripped off the nuclei, forming a plasma. Eventually, at extremely high temperature, nuclei will break down into their constituent particles (protons and neutrons). At even higher temperatures, it is theorized that even these subatomic particles will break down, becoming a sea of quarks and gluons.

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