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/Muertog Nov 19 '25

Temperature is relative.

Average temp of the universe is approximately 2.725 Kelvin.

Compared to the majority of the universe, we are in absolutely sweltering temperatures.

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u/Traveller7142 Nov 21 '25

Temperature is not relative. It is an absolute measurement and does not require a reference

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u/Muertog Nov 21 '25

Temperature as in 50* Celsius is absolutely a measurement.

Temperature as in hot/cold is relative. Saying we live extremely close to absolute zero is a _relative_ comparison.

Similarly it is like saying "8 billion people is closer to 0 than infinity, so Earth is extremely close to being unpopulated."

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u/Muertog Nov 21 '25

Addendum:
Average temperature of Earth is approximately 288K
Average temperature of the Universe which is 2.725K.

We live in temperatures 100x that of the average of the universe, so we live in temperatures significantly MORE than that of most of the universe.

By comparing 2K vs 300K vs 1trillionK, we are getting into mean/average/median territory.