# Is there a maximum temperature? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 11, 2003, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-maximum-temperature/200875 "2003-09-11T00:36:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2003, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-maximum-temperature/200875/1 "2003-09-11T00:36:34Z")
I know that “absolute zero” is the theoretical minimum, the temperature at which molecules no longer move. But is there also a theoretical maximum? Was this achieved at the instant of the Big Bang, and can it ever be reached again? And what would define a maximum temperature, i.e. what phenomenon would be happening that could not be exceeded? ---
**Author:** ![Shiva418](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@Shiva418](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shiva418)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2003, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-maximum-temperature/200875/2 "2003-09-11T00:46:36Z")
IANA Physicist, but I think so. The faster the particles of an object move, the higher the temperature of the object is. Thus, since there is most definantly a limit on how fast objects can move (the speed of light), it follows that there would also be a maximum temperature that could be reached. All IMHO of course. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2003, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-maximum-temperature/200875/3 "2003-09-11T01:09:43Z")
See [url=“[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=182503](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=182503)”]this thread[/ur] for a previous discussion. Good links there. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2003, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-maximum-temperature/200875/4 "2003-09-11T01:11:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ultrafilter \* > \*\*See [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=182503) for a previous discussion. Good links there. \*\* ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2003, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-maximum-temperature/200875/5 "2003-09-11T01:29:08Z")
The master [speaks.](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_347.html) ---
**Author:** ![g8rguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7cd45c/32.png) [@g8rguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/g8rguy)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2003, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-maximum-temperature/200875/6 "2003-09-11T02:04:36Z")
In a certain sense, the maximum possible temperature would be… -infinity. I know this sounds sort of stupid, but here’s the general idea: temperature tells you something about how energy is distributed between states. At absolute zero, everything has its lowest possible energy, and as you increase the temperature, more energetic states become increasingly populated. At a temperature of plus infinity, ALL states would have equal populations. Well then, suppose you have more population in more energetic things than you do for less energetic things. In the classical description, this would require a negative temperature. And just like absolute zero is the temperature in which the lowest energy state has all the population, -infinity is the temperature in which the highest energy state has all the population. ---
**Author:** ![g8rguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7cd45c/32.png) [@g8rguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/g8rguy)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2003, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-maximum-temperature/200875/7 "2003-09-11T02:11:25Z")
By the way, the notion that temperature is defined by how fast objects move is not actually correct. It happens to be the case that under a certain set of assumptions, you can calculate the temperature knowing the speed of the particles, but this is not a definition of temperature _per se_ but rather a relation that happens to be satisfied in the right approximations. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_chao_goes_mu/32/3191_2.png) [@The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Chao_Goes_Mu)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2003, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-maximum-temperature/200875/8 "2003-09-12T13:51:56Z")
Ok so here’s my wild ass guess… Wouldn’t the maximun temp infinitly fall short of an infinite temperature? If that makes any sense. You would never reach infinite heat because of entropy right? And you couldn’t have infinite heat without infinite density (like the big bang singularity) Damn…can’t make sense of this! Where’s Whack-a-mole and chronos?