Video of the Week

Week 7 (09/03/2015 - 15/03/2015)



Negative Temperatures are Hot by Sixty Symbols

With recent advances in scientific technology, researchers nowadays are able to routinely achieve extremely low temperatures in the laboratory, on the order of nano-Kelvins. However, perhaps some of you may have heard of other experiments in which the researchers claimed to have attained negative temperatures. But doesn't this go against our traditional conception of what temperature is? How can temperature be negative, and what does this mean?

In this video, Professor Philip Moriarty uses a series of simple diagrams and interactive demonstrations to explain what negative temperatures actually mean - they are actually hotter than positive temperatures! Do watch the video to find out more about this seemingly puzzling fact!

The Video of the Week is a newly introduced feature. Each week, we will highlight a new physics-related video. The selected videos will cover a wide variety of issues, ranging from academic to pedagogical or even introspective in nature. Through these videos, we hope to inspire students, broaden the horizons of their physics knowledge and stimulate thinking and reflection. Stay tuned for more exciting videos in the coming weeks!