Why is it incorrect to say that a sample of Helium at 50 degrees Celsius is twice as hot as a sample of Helium at 25 degrees Celsius?

Answer 1

Answer:Hotness is the measure of average kinetic energy of the molecules. When temperature increases from 25 Celsius to 50 Celsius then values becomes doubled but average kinetic energy of molecules does not!

Absolute temperature was introduced to resolve this problem.

If 25 Kelvin is doubled to 50 Kelvin then average kinetic energy and hotness also doubles.

Consider an example:

Suppose the temperature is 0 Celsius at midnight. At noon it will be twice as hot.

This is a paradox because mathematically it will be the same. (2x0=0)

The same is true for the question at hand.

25 degrees Celsius is the same as 298 Kelvin and 50 degree Celsius the same as 323 Kelvin.

323 is not twice of 298.

The long version:Lets start with the facts. Celsius is a scale of measuring temperature. It is a common scale that is used most all over the world, even in US, although they are more used to Fahrenheit.

To say that 50 degrees Celsius is twice as hot as 25 degrees Celsius makes sense. 25x2 equals 50.

The math does not lie. Math can not lie. This is true to the scale applied.

From this I could say that the statement made in the question regarding this is incorrect, you must be wrong.

However.

If I am assuming that you are correct in your statement, then there "must" be an "error" somewhere.

We know that the Celsius scale is a relative scale but where does it begin? Where are the "end-points"?

We know that it has got negative values as well. How far down does it go?

Lets consider 1 Degree Celsius as One unit of measurement.

Celsius goes down to -273 Degrees Celsius. This makes 273 units before its relative start point of Zero. This is where we now "invert" the Celsius scale and start at the very bottom and only deal with positive numbers.

We have now "re-invented" the Absolute Scale of Kelvin. The units are the same. One Kelvin unit is equal to One Celsius Unit. It starts at the beginning instead of "way up".

We will now think about the question using this absolute Kelvin scale instead.

First we convert 25 and 50 into Kelvin (we just add 273 to both. This works because the units are the same.) This gives 298 K and 323 K.

Kelvin gives us the actual energy level (as in heat) instead of an energy level related to the melting point of ice as Celsius does. From this we can see that 323 k is not the double of 298 k and your statement in the question is correct.

I will again point out that Math does not lie.

Note.

Math can easily be "deceiving" when one need one kind of an answer and ask the question in regards to something else.

Some questions does only make sense when thinking about them "outside the box".

Scientists think "outside the box" all the time. :-)

Answer 2

Temperature is a measure of the average kinetic energy of the particles in a substance, so it is a relative scale. It does not have a true zero point like length or weight. Therefore, saying one sample is "twice as hot" as another is not meaningful in terms of absolute temperature.