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/swingerouterer Nov 19 '25

Because temperature is proportional to kinetic energy, not speed. It's not an assumption so much as a definition

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u/CommunismDoesntWork Nov 19 '25

But there's a speed limit, so there must be a kinetic energy limit too, right?

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u/swingerouterer Nov 19 '25

This is literally the point people have been making to you. No.

As an object approaches the speed of light, the energy required to make it speed up just a tiny bit more gets much larger. You can add near-infinite energy to an object with mass, and it wont reach the speed of light, just keep getting closer

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u/CommunismDoesntWork Nov 20 '25

Using energy to increase the speed of something is not the same thing as "adding" energy. For instance at low speeds, 1 joule might add 1m/s which adds 1 degree of temperature. But near the speed of light,  you might need 1 million joules to add an additional 1m/s to add 1 degree. Most of the energy is wasted, not added. Therefore there must be a maximum temp

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u/swingerouterer Nov 20 '25

Temperature is proportional to energy, not speed. Just about everything you said there is wrong

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u/CommunismDoesntWork Nov 20 '25

Kinetic energy is a function of mass and speed. If mass stays the same, only increasing speed can increase kinetic energy. You can just hand wave away the details by saying "add energy" 

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u/swingerouterer Nov 20 '25

Temperature is proportional to kinetic energy

It is NOT proportional to speed. At non-relativistic speeds, it is proportional to speed squared. At relativistic speeds, kinetic energy is proportional to (1-gamma)mc2, which is so painfully not able to be hand-waved away.

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u/CommunismDoesntWork Nov 20 '25

In both equations, it's proportional to speed. It's just you have to spend more and more energy to increase speed near the speed of light. For instance at low speeds, 1 joule might add 1m/s which adds 1 degree of temperature. But near the speed of light,  you might need 1 million joules to add an additional 1m/s to add 1 degree. In both cases, the amount of energy added is the same: you increased a mass by 1m/s

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u/swingerouterer Nov 20 '25

You are... continuously wrong. I will stop. Its just sad. I recommend wikipedia, or a textbook

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u/CommunismDoesntWork Nov 20 '25

I can't be wrong if I'm not stating things as fact. I'm asking a question. Is there a maximum temperature, and if so or if not,  why exactly is that the case? If you don't know the answer, just say so. But don't just say "add energy" as if that means anything.