Superconductor Research Points To New Phase of Matter

unil_1005 writes "Scientists have found the strongest evidence yet that a puzzling gap in the electronic structures of some high-temperature superconductors could indicate a new phase of matter. Understanding this 'pseudogap' has been a 20-year quest for researchers who are trying to control and improve these breakthrough materials, with the ultimate goal of finding superconductors that operate at room temperature. 'Our findings point to management and control of this other phase as the correct path toward optimizing these novel superconductors for energy applications, as well as searching for new superconductors,' said Zhi-Xun Shen of the Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Science."

Comments

Boring.

[Anonymous Coward]

It don't matter to me.

Re:Boring.

[stms]

You obviously have no idea what the implications of a finding a room temperature super-conductor are they're actually very exciting and at the very lest not boring. It would push most of our technology forward at least 20 years if we can find a way to mass produce one. Since you obviously use technology it defiantly does matter to you.

Re:Boring.

[Anonymous Coward]

That's not gas whooshing over your head.

Re:Boring.

[ColdWetDog]

So folks like you get a WHOOSH! through your brain?

(Think about it again, slowly this time)

Re:Boring.

[Gilmoure]

Apriciate Jam ROCKS!

Re:Boring.

[fotoflojoe]

Your post made me laugh. The replies made me sad, knowing that Sheldon Cooper is alive and well.

Re:Boring.

[CnlPepper]

We don't appreciate it because it was lame.

What about Bose Einstein Condensate?

[VMaN]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bose%E2%80%93Einstein_condensate

Re:What about Bose Einstein Condensate?

[MozeeToby]

There are lots and lots of phases of matter, the 3 (or maybe 4 depending on your teacher) that you learned about in elementary science classes are just the most common.

Re:What about Bose Einstein Condensate?

[Anonymous Coward]

just to name the ones i've heard of (through being nothing more than someone who pays attention but without any real interest)

solid
liquid crystal (yes like in watch displays)
liquid
gas
plasma

aside from the liquid crystal (it's a different phase or some such cos it's not the space between the molecules but rather the alignment of the molecules which determine if it's currently solid or liquid) i always liked how science has basically said the world is made of four things; earth, water, air and fire...

oh and as for Bose Einstein Condensate i would think it's still a liquid, be it one with zero friction.

right, enough ramblings.

Re:What about Bose Einstein Condensate?

[blueg3]

A zero-friction liquid is a superfluid, not a Bose-Einstein condensate. Both superfluids and BEC are distinct phases of matter, though. Simply sharing some properties with another phase is insufficient -- otherwise liquid and gas wouldn't be distinct phases.

Re:What about Bose Einstein Condensate?

[hedwards]

Wouldn't that make a zero-friction liquid, superfluous?

Re:What about Bose Einstein Condensate?

[tangelogee]

Wouldn't that make a zero-friction liquid, superfluous?

badump-ch!

Re:What about Bose Einstein Condensate?

[Speare]

Wouldn't that make a zero-friction liquid, superfluous?

Don't mean to rayn on your parade, but I didn't know if you intended that as a physics pun or not. "Fluous" sounds like "fluidity," the reciprocal of viscosity; super-fluidity is sub-viscosity. While it means something else in this case, "fluous" does come from the French fluere, to flow. So, was it on pour poise?

Re:What about Bose Einstein Condensate?

[slick7]

Would a magnetic jelly be apropos? With some aether butter on a sesame seed bun?

Re:What about Bose Einstein Condensate?

[Phoghat]

No, because Andy Granatelli's STP would incorporate it as an ingredient

4th? How about 6th? Or 7th?

[Anonymous Coward]

I thought plasma, bose-einsten condensate and quark-gluon plasmas were all recognised as seperate states of matter?

Re:4th? How about 6th? Or 7th?

[bigsexyjoe]

That's why no one described it as the "4th" phase of matter. Just a new phase.

Re:4th? How about 6th? Or 7th?

[blueg3]

Plasma is the fourth "common" phase of matter.

Bose-Einstein condensates and other novel phase are also phases, but aren't exhibited in all materials.

For that matter, most solids, particularly crystalline solids, have many different phases that correspond to different crystalline structures.

Also, "liquid" and "gas" aren't always distinct phases.

Re:4th? How about 6th? Or 7th?

[lysdexia]

On this pathetic plane, perhaps. Others may have found different metaphors.

Re:4th? How about 6th? Or 7th?

[Diss Champ]

There are also liquid crystal phases. Basically, ordered liquids.

Re:4th? How about 6th? Or 7th?

[Biff Stu]

I believe that the GP is referring to supercritical fluids.

Re:4th? How about 6th? Or 7th?

[Anonymous Coward]

These are supercritical fluids. If i'm not mistaken, oxygen is one at room temperature. A typical gas to liquid phase transition involves a discontinuity in the density of the fluid with rising pressure and constant temperature; supercritical fluids fail to exhibit this behavior for all pressures at a temperature above the critical point. More interesting, however, is what happens right around the critical point. Specifically, the free energy difference between the gas and liquid phases (just below the critical point) tend towards zero as one approaches this pressure/temperature combination. This results in enormous swings in density within the material for no real reason. That is, the change in density with respect to pressure approaches infinity (or the change in density with respect to volume approaches zero).

Re:4th? How about 6th? Or 7th?

[blueg3]

Sorry, it took me a while to notice this response.

I'm forgetting a lot of my thermodynamics terminology, but the type of thermodynamic change between a solid phase and either of the fluid phases is different than the thermodynamic change between the two fluid phases (liquid and gas). You can intuitively see this, since the solid phase (for crystalline things) has a symmetry change and a fundamental change in how the system is ordered. Liquid and gas phases are very similar, except that particles are a lot closer together in liquid.

Anyway, if you look at a phase diagram (a map of phases at different temperatures and pressures), the point where all three phases coexist is the triple point. There's a second point at high temperature and pressure called the "critical point". It's the end of the line that separates the liquid and gas phases. Above the critical point, the liquid and gas phases are the same. In fact, you can start with a liquid, raise the temperature and pressure so that you're past the critical point, lower the pressure, and then lower the temperature and pressure until you end up with a gas, never having crossed a phase transition.

The actual thermodynamics is tricky to understand but very entertaining.

Yes, supercritical fluids.

Re:4th? How about 6th? Or 7th?

[DMUTPeregrine]

Off the top of my head:
Solid
Liquid
Critical state
Supercritical matter
Gas
Plasma
Liquid crystal
Glass
Bose-Einstein condensate
Fermionic condensate
Rydberg molecule
Superfluid
Quark-Gluon plasma

Probably a few others. And now pseudogap.

That's because...

[earls]

They're the only phases that matter.

Re:That's because...

[StikyPad]

That's the phase that pays!

Re:Fueled by the power of your yellow sun.

[lysdexia]

It would be hard to win a thread with more grace.
/me doffs hat

What? Another one?

[Conspiracy_Of_Doves]

Aren't there, like, 14 now?

Woosh!

[Anonymous Coward]

It's times like these that Slashdot's no delete/edit policy on posts really sticks you in the ass, no?

Re:There's only one phase of matter

[Anonymous Coward]

And its name is JESUS

There is only one phase of matter and its name is...

CHUCK NORRIS

Re:Did IQs just drop sharply while I was away?

[StikyPad]

Wow, thanks for that explanation through demonstration.

My prediction...

[Low Ranked Craig]

We're going to spend all this time and effort to create room temperature super conductors only to have a bunch of three-legged two-headed aliens develop a bacteria to eat it and make our cities fall.

This...

[mpdolan37]

does not phase me.