NASA will create Bose-Einstein condensates in the microgravity environment aboard the International Space Station, where they can last for longer periods of time:
This summer, an ice chest-sized box will fly to the International Space Station, where it will create the coolest spot in the universe. [...] Its instruments are designed to freeze gas atoms to a mere billionth of a degree above absolute zero. That's more than 100 million times colder than the depths of space.
[...] NASA has never before created or observed Bose-Einstein condensates in space. On Earth, the pull of gravity causes atoms to continually settle towards the ground, meaning they're typically only observable for fractions of a second.
But on the International Space Station, ultra-cold atoms can hold their wave-like forms longer while in freefall. That offers scientists a longer window to understand physics at its most basic level. Thompson estimated that CAL (Cold Atom Laboratory) will allow Bose-Einstein condensates to be observable for up to five to 10 seconds; future development of the technologies used on CAL could allow them to last for hundreds of seconds.
(Score: 2, Informative) by khallow on Tuesday March 07 2017, @06:51PM (2 children)
On Earth, the pull of gravity causes atoms to continually settle towards the ground
Then how does Earth have an atmosphere?
Because the pull of gravity causes atoms to continually settle towards the ground. Else we would have lost all atmosphere, and the entire mass of the planet to space.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 07 2017, @08:36PM (1 child)
I think it is more complicated than that... your narrative would lead to one solid object with no atmosphere.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday March 07 2017, @10:21PM
I think it is more complicated than that... your narrative would lead to one solid object with no atmosphere.
I sure hope you aren't suggesting that gravity is responsible for every dynamic of atmosphere. The Earth's gravity isn't responsible for solar influx. Nor is it responsible for the self-collision of atmosphere.