What Is Twice As Cold As 0°C?

[Reldar]

So what is twice as cold as 0°C?

I've seen a lot of people convert 0 centigrade to fahrenheit/kelvin. Half/double it and convert it back.
I can't help but feel this will yield false results.

Surely "twice as cold" would mean the molecules move/vibrate twice as slow?
But it would differ depending on which elements the "twice as cold" is applied to. Right?

Example (not legit): you could have both Steel and Water at 0°C.
But at -100°C the Steel molecules could be vibrating/moving twice as slow, while the water molecules could be 4 times as slow.

I probably don't even know what I'm talking about lol

 

[MOOGLEYS]

Why are you thinking about this kind of stuff at 8.44am on a sunday morning.....

 

[Castiel]

Why are you thinking about this kind of stuff at 8.44am on a sunday morning.....

Drugs!

 

[Stumble Bum]

It depends how you want to quantify it.

 

[Aod]

by what metric are you determining that 0°C is cold? if it's by feel, then to the body -5°C will "feel" twice as cold.

another way of considering it might be to say that 0°C is 21°C away from room temp, and thus -21°C is twice as cold

i don't think there's any definitive answer though.

 

[Zefan]

Could twice as cold not also be expressed as half as warm?

0°C is 273.15°C above absolute zero, therefore something half as warm will be -136.575°C.

That's how it works in my head

 

[Tefal]

So what is twice as cold as 0°C?

I've seen a lot of people convert 0 centigrade to fahrenheit/kelvin. Half/double it and convert it back.
I can't help but feel this will yield false results.

Surely "twice as cold" would mean the molecules move/vibrate twice as slow?
But it would differ depending on which elements the "twice as cold" is applied to. Right?

Example (not legit): you could have both Steel and Water at 0°C.
But at -100°C the Steel molecules could be vibrating/moving twice as slow, while the water molecules could be 4 times as slow.

I probably don't even know what I'm talking about lol

iirc though steel feels colder than plastic at the same temp because it conducts the heat away from you quicker.

Do you mean actually physically cooler or feels colder to touch?

 

[Cosimo]

Well it wasn’t twice as cold when I went out this morning.

 

[Reldar]

Why are you thinking about this kind of stuff at 8.44am on a sunday morning.....

Because I have a very boring life which gives me plenty of time to think about the pointless

iirc though steel feels colder than plastic at the same temp because it conducts the heat away from you quicker.

Do you mean actually physically cooler or feels colder to touch?

Physically cooler.
You're right about the transfer of heat being greater with metals making it feel colder

KNOWLEDGE IS POWER!!!

 

[Cosimo]

KNOWLEDGE IS POWER!!!

But only in the right hands.

 

[MOOGLEYS]

Because I have a very boring life which gives me plenty of time to think about the pointless

Lol at this time I have just enough brain power to operate the kettle and almost work out why my kids are fascinated with Mr maker and his pipe cleaner man...

 

[D.P.]

Could twice as cold not also be expressed as half as warm?

0°C is 273.15°C above absolute zero, therefore something half as warm will be -136.575°C.

That's how it works in my head

And that's how it works in physics.
One must first convert to degrees Kelvin.

 

[Mana]

i shower at -273.15 C

 

[Reldar]

i shower at -273.15 C

How could you shower when everything is a solid?

 

[darael]

0 degrees Celsius = 32 degrees Fahrenheit

Therefore twice as cold would mean halving 32F, leaving you with 16F.

16 degrees Fahrenheit = -8.88888889 degrees Celsius

 

[OriginalJonty]

This is like trying to divide by zero, isn't it? Stop trying to destroy us!

 

[tripitaka]

Could twice as cold not also be expressed as half as warm?

0°C is 273.15°C above absolute zero, therefore something half as warm will be -136.575°C.

That's how it works in my head

I'd be going with this.

 

[ojrules]

Could twice as cold not also be expressed as half as warm?

0°C is 273.15°C above absolute zero, therefore something half as warm will be -136.575°C.

That's how it works in my head

 

[ElliorR]

i shower at -273.15 C

That's a lie and I can prove it liar.

If you got the water down to absolute zero we'd be able to determine the position and momentum of atoms but, as we all know, the Uncertainty Principle doesn't allow this.

Liar

 

[Inquisitor]

So what is twice as cold as 0°C?

I've seen a lot of people convert 0 centigrade to fahrenheit/kelvin. Half/double it and convert it back.
I can't help but feel this will yield false results.

Surely "twice as cold" would mean the molecules move/vibrate twice as slow?
But it would differ depending on which elements the "twice as cold" is applied to. Right?

Example (not legit): you could have both Steel and Water at 0°C.
But at -100°C the Steel molecules could be vibrating/moving twice as slow, while the water molecules could be 4 times as slow.

I probably don't even know what I'm talking about lol

It's a reasonable question, actually

It all depends on what you mean by "twice as cold", since "cold" isn't really a physical quantity. If you interpret "twice as cold" to mean "half the temperature", then it's simply a matter of converting to Kelvin and dividing by two. Since the result depends on the temperature scale chosen, we choose Kelvin, which is an absolute scale of temperature, while Celsius and Fahrenheit have zeros in more arbitrary places. Specifically, 0ºC is defined as the melting point of water, while 0ºF is defined by the properties of a mixture of water, ice, and ammonium chloride; in contrast, 0K is defined as the point at which the thermal motion of particles ceases altogether.

Of course, this would mean that the answer to your question would be -136.575ºC, which probably seems a lot more than "twice as cold"

Surely "twice as cold" would mean the molecules move/vibrate twice as slow?

Well, yes, if you take it to mean particles having half the speed, then you're right that it would depend on the element, but temperature measures the average kinetic energy of the particles, not the average speed, and this quantity behaves more nicely