Books to Read: Warped Passages
My sister was reading Vogue the other day and happened upon an article about Professor Lisa Randall. Not only is she a triple tenured professor at Princeton, MIT, and Harvard, a leading expert on particle physics, string theory, and cosmology, in Time’s 100 Scientists and Thinkers for 2007, and author of Warped Passages, she’s pretty good lookin’, too. I’ve been particularly interested in higher dimensions for quite a while. In addition to Warped Passages, which I just started, I suggest reading The Fourth Dimension, which is another great read.
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How hot CAN the universe get?
Ever since learning about absolute zero (the temperature at which no heat remains in a substance), I always was curious as to whether there was an analogue on the toasty end of the spectrum. Is there a limit to how hot a temperature can exist? I never had a physics teacher who could answer that question, but the internet today has done it:
“The highest possible temperature, called the Planck temperature, is equal to 10^32 degrees Kelvin. For comparison, the center of the sun bubbles along at 15 million degrees K (15 × 10^6); silicon can be created by fusion at 1 billion K (10^9).”
Thanks to The Straight Dope for finally answering this question that has bothered me for years!
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