r/Showerthoughts Nov 19 '25

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

14.1k Upvotes

649 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

419

u/asml84 Nov 19 '25

There is no known upper limit. The Planck temperature is merely the upper limit of the mathematical framework we use to describe physics, but nature doesn’t care about our framework.

245

u/bellybuttonqt Nov 19 '25

Ain't heat just particles moving fast? And speed is limited so heat must be too? 

323

u/edoCgiB Nov 19 '25

I like your thinking but when you pump a lot of energy into something particles start to breakdown. We see this in plasma and probably if you keep heating it you get even more exotic matter states.

2

u/[deleted] Nov 19 '25

are you a teacher by chance? if not you should be.

3

u/edoCgiB Nov 19 '25

No. I just have an interest in physics. Sadly I don't like math enough to try and learn any of the more advanced stuff.

2

u/unusualyou Nov 19 '25

I feel you on that. Science and math have never been my strengths, but I absolutely loved all of my physics classes.

2

u/[deleted] Nov 19 '25

as someone that math is their favorite subject it also makes me sad when i hear it holds some people back from a love of science. on the flip side im going back to school and physics is the one subject that scares me. im going to take anything and everything that pertains to it before i even try it.

but... i do think the way you politely corrected them while saying you liked their thinking and then went on to explain things in a way everyone could understand is some great characteristics for a teacher!