Coldest place in the Universe

Originally posted by HQ
"Man has produced yet chillier temperatures. In 1995, American researchers cooled rubidium atoms to less than 170 billionths of a degree above absolute zero."

FYI

At absolute zero, contrary to popular misconception, movement still goes on. IIRC, the average electron speed of atoms is still computable at 1/6th of the speed of light. Electrons do not "freeze". I once did the computation as a homework exercice.

And IIRC again, helium remains liquid. At least, the cooled liquid helium to a a few ten thousand of 0 Kelvin and it remained liquid IIRC again.

That's from the top of my head, booting up lazy neurons that did not flex their myelyn for twenty years...
The best book to learn on the topic is Thermal Physics by Reif.

It starts it's introduction to Statistical Mechanics with the fundamental example of a drunk man hanging out on a lamp post and counting how many times he walks on a given sidewalk stone as he attempts to leave the lampost.

You have no idea how much of physics rests on how a really drunk man behave...