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First Experimental Success of a Superfluid
J writes "Researchers at Rice University have created and observed a state of quantum superfluidity. Cooled to temperatures near absolute zero, fermions overcome their natural tendency to repel one another. These half-spin particles become dominated by the Strong force and couple up in pairs that behave as one particle. Major benefits to matter in a superfluid state include superconductivity, a state where electrons would flow freely with no resistance, thus preserving the most amount of electrical charge during passage and providing the ability to save billions of dollars in 'lost electricity'. Although the conditions set for this experiment are very unlikely to be able to exist outside of a laboratory, we now know that superfluidity is a concept that can exist. Future research in this topic is assumed to be finding a material that exists in a superfluid state at room temperature."
- Superfluidity isnt new, it's been around for 50+ years.
- Superfluidity is only tangentially related to superconductivity.
- Superfluidity is not particularly useful in and of itself.
- Superfluidity among ferminons *is* new and interesting to physics geeks.
As to its applications to daiily life, well, unlikely in the short run."Major benefits to matter in a superfluid state include superconductivity, a state where electrons would flow freely with no resistance, thus preserving the most amount of electrical charge during passage and providing the ability to save billions of dollars in 'lost electricity'."
And how much electricity does it take to keep this stuff at absolute zero? Just curious, because, y'know, there'd have to be an aweful lot of 'lost energy' gained to make up for the drain that process creates.
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Apparently you missed the 'whole' point of the Science. Randall Mills can be 'whoever' the media claims him to be. At first thought I read similar stories as the above poster mentioned about Randall Mills being a 'crackpot'. However, my 'statement' was, 'IF' we can 'proove' the existance of SUCH states using studies in Quantum Hydrodynamics -> We would end up with a revolutionary break through in energy production.
As for simply dissing a scientist because a couple of blogs say he should be dissed, or becuase our minds can not accept a 'new' version of Quantum theory (dating back to Einstein's times, when people thought he was a crackpot because he said the Universe is a large intervowen space time fabric). You should probably do what I did, I studied all of his papers with a skeptic eye and figured out that it is possible (as far as theory and math goes), we just do not have the technological resources to attain that state in physicaly 'stable' form. As for him refusing to release the details of experiments. He has written 28 studies on the subject that have been 'published' by major scientific journals. He has released NMR-spectrography data for the hydrino states. I wouldn't call that 'hiding' or 'making up stuff'. Unless you also want to go skeptic on Scientific Journal's authority as well, be my guest.
Infact just for the reader's information, I am working with 2 professors at the University of Alberta, One of the visiting professors in our team is a lecturer at University of Vienna (which I might add is also extensively researching the 'same' subject. Possibility of increased energy yeild from quantum energy states of hydrogen. (and yes, my friend, just in the last 3 years 'new technologies' have been produced by research conducted in Superfluidity, Preservation of wild insects using research done in superconductivity of artificial fertilizer compounds (et al Dr. David Lawrie 2005)) Do a little study before jumping to conclusions.
While its very easy to judge people, its hard to 'proove' your judgements.
I had to simplify the concept behind it because most people at Slashdot don't understand particle physics. The Pauli Exclusion principle (half-spin => cannot have the same quantum number) isn't violated, but actually is taken advantage of in a superfluid state. The fermions don't combine, but they become more "powerful" when their spins work together in such a way.
Also, I tried to write it as quick as possible thinking that someone else would submit a version that didn't have any extra details. Of course, it took over 24 hours to actually be posted, so whatever...
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By my read, it looks like MIT were the ones to create the superfluid in June, and the later Rice research was about how the superfluid behaves when it has an unbalanced spin (ie: that it remains superfluid with up to 10% excess of spin up particles).