Thermodynamic temperature and exchange energy in collisions. "Figure 1" below shows translational motion in gases; "" below shows translational motion in solids. Thermodynamic temperature's null point, absolute zero, is the temperature at which the particle constituents of matter are as close as possible to complete rest; that is, they have minimal motion, retaining only quantum mechanical motion. Zero kinetic energy remains in a substance at absolute zero (see "Thermal energy at absolute zero", below). Throughout the scientific world where measurements are made in SI units, thermodynamic temperature is measured in kelvins (symbol: K). Many engineering fields in the U.S. however, measure thermodynamic
Negative temperature energy states than in the lower ones. The system can then be characterised as having a negative temperature. A substance with a negative temperature is not colder than absolute zero, but rather it is hotter than infinite temperature. As Kittel and Kroemer (p. 462) put it, "The temperature scale from cold to hot runs: The corresponding inverse temperature scale, for the quantity "β" = 1/"kT" (where "k" is Boltzmann's constant), runs continuously from low energy to high as +∞, … , 0, …, −∞. Because it avoids the abrupt jump from +∞ to −∞, β is considered more natural than