First frictionless superfluid molecules created

Here is a small backstory to set the stage.
Unbalanced Superfluid Could Be Akin to Exotic Matter Found in Quark Star
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Rice University physicist Randall Hulet will discuss breakthrough efforts to create a long-sought quantum superfluid at a press conference today at the American Physical Society's 2006 March Meeting.

In January, Hulet's laboratory reported in the journal Science the observation of an elusive quantum state – a superfluid of fermions with mismatched numbers of dance partners. Despite more than 40 years of theoretical musings about what would occur in such a case, the result -- a cluster of matched pairs surrounded by a cloud of would-be dance partners -- was largely unexpected, and it has opened the door to several intriguing new avenues of investigation.

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Source - New Scientist

To see if molecules could be made superfluid, Robert McKellar of the National Research Council of Canada in Ottawa and colleagues turned to hydrogen, which exists as pairs of atoms. The team created a compressed mixture of hydrogen and carbon dioxide gas and shot it through a nozzle at supersonic speeds. Once released, the molecules spread apart, cooling and arranging themselves so that each CO2 molecule sat at the centre of a cluster of up to 20 hydrogens.

To test for superfluidity, the team shone an infrared laser at the clusters at wavelengths that CO2, but not hydrogen, can absorb. This set only the CO2 molecules vibrating. Under normal conditions this movement would be slowed down due to friction between the moving CO2 molecules and the surrounding hydrogen. But the researchers found that for clusters of 12 hydrogen molecules, the hydrogen barely impeded the motion of the CO2.

They conclude that these hydrogen clusters are 85 per cent superfluid

Another amazing advancement for science!



Superfluid slows light to 17 m/s
In 1999, one type of superfluid was used to trap light and greatly reduce its speed. In an experiment performed by Lene Hau, light was passed through a Bose-Einstein condensed gas of sodium (analogous to a superfluid) and found to be slowed to 17 m/s (61.2 km/h) from its normal speed of 299,792,458 metres per second in vacuum.

While researching this i came Across a rather interesting idea. Could this research, specifically the one above, in turn help with research into time travel?

Another interesting use for this technology is ultra-precise gyroscopes!
Gravity Probe B

Superfluids are also used in high-precision devices such as gyroscopes, which allow the measurement of some theoretically predicted gravitational effects (for an example see the Gravity Probe B article).

Wow that is an impressive fluid!

If only humans were made up of that instead of water!

We could use it for all sorts of things!

reply to post by VonDoomen


This is so awesome!! Mastering this tech will be the key to all of our technologies of this century. Even anti gravity propulsion

Thanks for sharing this!

I may be very wrong here but... at 0 degrees Kelvin there is no movement. Everything is solid!! So how can this helium be a superfluid at 0 degrees Kelvin???

Frictionless fluids... besides slowing down light, what other uses can this fluid be used for?

S&F, i love articles like these.

I had idea regarding this super fluid. Would it also be possible to use that as a fluid to slow space/time down around a craft... lets just say a UFO? It could be a part of how one could work by bending space/time/gravity using this fluid?

That diagram makes 0 sense to me. I am familiar with the terms, but it's an ovelroad of information and poorly presented.

However, the other information presented is very, very cool.

this post has some very creative and earth shattering possibilities. frictionless.. as in a straight vacuum, objects can literally travel at a constant speed indefinitely... is it possible that human intelligence has invented and created and dreamed of incredible concepts within the last 30-40 yrs?

reply to post by Lawgiver

Perhaps, but the real problem lies in applying them to real world situations.

reply to post by inivux


Agreed. I think its obvious to say that every once in a while we figure out something that is still way out of our league of mastery. However, i believe advancements like these are very important to future progress. I think it is safe to say we will continue to see more and more applications for this as we progress!

reply to post by Lawgiver


Well the title is a bit of a stretch! In the article it says they estimated that its experienced about only 15% of the normal friction, so this is a step towards something that is completely frictionless, however this is just a stepping stone, albeit a very close one.

reply to post by ugie1028


This is what I am wondering as well! Excellent comment!
To me it seems incredible that they have slowed light down to this speed. However, this snippit we have seen here it just a tip of the iceberg. I would however share your sentiments that these two ideas are somehow linked!

reply to post by VonDoomen


i think there linked in a way, but i dont have any proof to back it up.

The only idea i had came from remembering what bob Lazar said about gravity A & B waves. perhaps he got the wording wrong. It wasn't an actual wave that is bent around the craft for propulsion, but rather using the fluid to slow time around the craft allowing the users inside to travel without losing time. maybee even using the elusive element 115 as a catalyst (hence the crazy speeds involved with UFO's) but there is no proof to it. Just my crazy mind thinking crazy things.

I hope to hear more about it. It sure as hell captured my interest.

reply to post by ugie1028


bearings that never wear out. incredible lifespans for car parts that often break down due to friction. increased gas mileage in said cars as it would take less to move certain parts. any mechanical object that used grease would benefit from frictionless fluids. lots of other applications i can't think of at the moment.