Daecon Posted February 7, 2006 Share Posted February 7, 2006 Speed can only be zero, not negative. Speed is the measure of how much an object is moving - it's the same with heat, you can only go down to 0K, you can't have "negative" temperature because the atoms are either moving or they're not. Photons are the fastest things that can move. Everything else is dragged slower by the Higgs field, which gives it the property of "mass". Photons are not affected by the Higgs field, which is why they can move so fast. Everything else is subject to the influence of the Higgs field. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daecon Posted February 7, 2006 Share Posted February 7, 2006 Oops! Double post by mistake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swansont Posted February 7, 2006 Share Posted February 7, 2006 Speed is the measure of how much an object is moving - it's the same with heat' date=' you can only go down to 0K, you can't have "negative" temperature because the atoms are either moving or they're not.[/quote'] Negative temperature does have meaning in atomic electron-state descriptions, though it is not an equilibrium condition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daecon Posted February 7, 2006 Share Posted February 7, 2006 Really? Ah, it would seem my knowledge is a little out-of-date... I hate that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swansont Posted February 7, 2006 Share Posted February 7, 2006 Really? Ah' date=' it would seem my knowledge is a little out-of-date... I hate that. [/quote'] Population inversions, for example. You naturally get some atoms in excited states depending on their temperature. Something like [math]N_2/N_1 = e^{-(E_2-E_1)/kT}[/math] (for a two-state system) But if you invert the populations by some means, T must be negative. As I said, it's a non-equilibrium condition, but it does have meaning in the right context. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CanadaAotS Posted February 8, 2006 Share Posted February 8, 2006 "negative" velocity would just be travelling in the opposite direction of whatever you consider "positive" velocity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustStuit Posted February 8, 2006 Share Posted February 8, 2006 "negative" velocity would just be travelling in the opposite direction of whatever you consider "positive" velocity. Speed, however, will not be negative since it has no direction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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