from the it-just-shouldn't-do-that,-should-it? dept.
As helium is cooled to lower and lower temperatures, greater and greater fractions of it demonstrate quantum effects.
At lower and lower temperatures, greater and greater fractions of liquid helium become superfluid ( http://istd.gsfc.nasa.gov/cryo/introduction/liquid_helium.html). Superfluid helium can do some seemingly impossible things, like climb up the walls of containers or leak through pores ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBi908sct_U&feature=related ) that are too small for normal liquid helium to pass through. At this point, superfluid helium is demonstrating the effects of quantum physics, which makes it especially tantalizing to physicists. Now, in a new study, an international team of physicists has taken images of tiny droplets of superfluid helium, finding that even very small amounts of superfluid helium act unusually.
http://www.popsci.com/article/science/weird-ways-superfluid-helium
[Abstract]: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/345/6199/906.full
(Score: 3, Informative) by FatPhil on Tuesday August 26 2014, @11:22PM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by nyder on Tuesday August 26 2014, @11:26PM
Editors, that summary sucks. It needs work.
Article sounds great though, sounds like fun stuff to play with. I hope they find new stuff with it's properties.
(Score: 1) by Darth Turbogeek on Wednesday August 27 2014, @12:48AM
Hey guys, a big thanks for posting this. I *LOVE* reading about supercold and the weird things that go on at 4K and below. I suspect others may think the same way, wether or not it generates discussion. This is the kind of article I want to see pop up every now and then
Now, I knew about Helium's way to seemingly defy the laws of physics but to see that it's possibly at a quantum level of weird is very interesting.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 27 2014, @03:32PM
you can violate p=mv with either microwaves or supra-helium.
take your pick for inter-stellar flight. i think they have both in new china town on mars city : )