Name:_______________________________________ Date: _______________ Period: ___________ Nova: “Absolute Zero” – KEY Answer the following questions as you watch the NOVA video “Absolute Zero”. If you miss one of the answers, the movie is available on youtube or a transcript of the program is available at: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/3501_zero.html PART 1 – THE CONQUEST OF COLD 1. Cornelius Drebbel had a wager with King James I in 1620. What was it? He could turn summer into winter 2. What does adding salt do to ice? Lowers the temperature at which ice melts 3. What is Robert Boyle primarily famous for? Experiments on the nature of air 4. When were the first accurately calibrated thermometers made, and where? Mid 17th century, Florence 5. What was the biggest problem with these first thermometers? Lack of universally accepted temperature scale 6. How were thermometers made smaller? Use Mercury instead of alcohol or air 7. Describe the 18th century theory that rivaled the theory that particles slow down as they cool and speed up when they warm? Caloric theory – heat was a weightless substance called caloric 8. What was the fate of Lavoisier? He was arrested and beheaded 9. Who or what did Rumford leave his wife for? His 1st love - science 10. What was the name of Tudor’s ship for transporting ice? The Favorite 11. What was the “single most important economic problem in Europe”? How much useful work can you get out of a given amount of heat? 12. Carnot found out that more work could be done by an engine if….. : There was a greater temperature difference 13. How did the SI unit for energy become the Joule? He proved the existence of something that converts between heat and motion. 14. What is the First Law of Thermodynamics? Energy can never be created or destroyed, only converted 15. What is the Second Law of Thermodynamics? Heat always flows from hot to cold; never from cold to hot 16. Why do some people still call their refrigerator the “ice box” (usually older people ) ? Refrigerators originally used a block of ice to cool food PART 2 - THE RACE FOR ABSOLUTE ZERO 17. What happened to the rubber ball soaked in liquid Oxygen as demonstrated by James Dewar? It broke 18. What was the lowest temperature reached by Faraday? -130 °C 19. Who was the first to liquefy Hydrogen? (Circle one) a) Kamerlingh Onnes b) Dewar c) Faraday ALSO, what was his motivation for doing so? He wanted to “climb the highest mountain peak”; thought there would be fame and prizes 20. At what temperature did Onnes’ team have to reach to liquefy Helium? -268 °C 21. Why did Dewar’s low temperature research end? Resentment over Onnes’ achievement in liquefying Helium; assistant quit 22. Who was the first to use the term “superconductivity”? Kamerlingh Onnes 23. What is a superfluid? a liquid cooled to 2K; it defies gravity, climbs walls, has zero viscosity, produces a frictionless fountain 24. Try to describe, in 10 words or less, a Bose-Einstein condensate? 4th state of matter; overlapping particles with identity crisis 25. What were scientists at the UC Boulder and MIT competing to do? 26. Who “won” the “race” and what was the atom used in the condensate? 27. How does the B-E condensate provide support for quantum mechanics? 28. Was Hydrogen ever B-E condensed? 29. What is the next big step in the practical application of B-E condensates?
