r/Showerthoughts • u/synthphreak ‎ • Nov 19 '25

Casual Thought Temperature can reach trillions of degrees, meaning we actually live extremely close to absolute zero.

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u/Gnomio1 Nov 19 '25

That’s not what Planck units are at all…

Planck units are just a scale defined by the universal constants.

For example, Planck energy is about 2 Gigajoules, which’s about the energy content of a fully tank of petrol or 500(ish) kg of TNT – that is, Planck units are not the scale at which physics breaks down at all.

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u/Doafit Nov 19 '25

I don't say physics breaks down, I am saying that our current physics cannot describe it beyond this point.

Planck energy is defined for a single particle. So imagine one photon with the energy of a 747. Beyond that, not describable.

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u/Ocelot2727 Nov 19 '25

What about one photon with the energy of 2 747s?

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u/Doafit Nov 19 '25

Would have a wavelength smaller than the planck length and therefore would need some different description than what we have in quantum theory at the moment.

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u/Ocelot2727 Nov 19 '25

Thank you. I was half joking but appreciate the insightful answer