What Happens to Atoms and Energy at Absolute Zero?

[SaudAlt]

i am in the 9nth grade and i am intrigued by the idea of Absolute zero and the phenomenas, my question is what will happen if we reach absolute zero? i know that molecules slow down until they stop, but i don't understand one thing, what is keeping the atoms together, isn't it energy. is there energy within the atom? , what will happen if it losses that energy wouldn't it loss its properties? and if it does, what will it be called by then, because it wouldn't be an atom no more?.

 

[NobodySpecial]

Atoms are held together in molecules by the electrical attraction between the negative electrons and the positive nucleus.
This isn't affected by low temperatures, at high temperatures molecules can break apart into individual atoms because their motion is enough to break these bonds.

Absolute zero only really describes the motion of atoms and molecules in a gas - and even then this is an simple picture

 

[JaredJames]

I'd start by reading here for a basic understanding: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolute_zero

As far as I'm aware, absolute zero doesn't exist as a possible temperature to attain - you physically can't reach it.

 

[Ramael]

As you approach absolute zero, there are changes in the properties of matter. Its called a Bose–Einstein condensate. Einstein demonstrated that cooling bosonic atoms to a very low temperature would cause them to fall (or "condense") into the lowest accessible quantum state, resulting in a new form of matter. This includes forms like superfluids and phenomenon including quantized vortices.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bose–Einstein_condensate