I’ve heard the following expression from people all over the country and on television. It makes absolutely no sense: “That’s the exception that proves the rule.” Is this a bastardization of some other phrase? If not, what does it mean? –Lorraine Nicotera, East Weymouth, Massachusetts
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To be sure, a few scholarly types have tried to make excuses for “The exception proves the rule,” as the quotation books usually phrase it. They say it comes from the medieval Latin aphorism Exceptio probat regulam. Probat means “prove” in the sense of “test,” as in “proving ground” or “The proof is in the pudding.” So “the exception proves the rule” means a close look at exceptions helps us determine a rule’s validity.
There’s a lot more latitude in the opposite direction. The faster molecules move, the hotter they get. At 10 10 K electrons approach the speed of light, but they also become more massive, so their temperature can continue to rise. At 10 32 K such staggering densities are attained that greater temperature would cause each particle of matter to become its own black hole, and the usual understanding of space and time would collapse. Ergo, the Planck temperature is as hot as things can get. Or at least it’s the highest temp conceivable in present theory. There’s a chance when a quantum theory of gravity is worked out we may find even higher temperatures are possible. I personally don’t view the prospect with enthusiasm, but when you’re a scientist you learn to take it as it comes.
