Question

In terms of Charles’ law explain why -273 C is the lowest possible temperature.

Answer 1

Charles’s law states that at constant pressure, the volume of a fixed mass of gas is directly proportional to its absolute temperature.
It was found that for all gases (at any given pressure), the plots of volume vs. temperature $\left({\mathrm{in}}^{o}C\right)$ is a straight line. If this line is extended to zero volume, then it intersects the temperature-axis at -${273}^{o}C$ . In other words, the volume of any gas at ${273}^{o}C$ is zero. This is because all gases get liquefied before reaching a temperature of ${273}^{o}C$ . Hence, it can be concluded that -${273}^{o}C$is the lowest possible temperature.