Video Transcript
What is the value of absolute zero in Celsius? Give your answer to the nearest degree Celsius.
We can begin by recalling that absolute zero is the lowest possible temperature that anything anywhere in the universe can have. Now, the term itself, absolute zero, might remind us of the kelvin temperature scale, which is considered an absolute scale since it has no negative values. And thus, absolute zero simply measures as zero kelvin.
Let’s also recall that the magnitude of one kelvin is equivalent to that of one degree Celsius and that there’s a difference of 273 between these two temperature scales. Specifically, when we’re converting from kelvin to Celsius, we just have to subtract 273. Thus, to find absolute zero in Celsius, we have zero kelvin minus 273, which gives negative 273 degrees Celsius. Since this is already a whole number, we have our answer. The value of absolute zero is negative 273 degrees Celsius.
