Comments on: new form of matter

new form of matter

stbalbach — Wed, 28 Jan 2004 17:08:07 -0800

Scientists at JILA have announced the creation of a new form of matter known as fermionic condensate the sixth known form of matter -- after gases, solids, liquids, plasma and Bose-Einstein condensate, created in 1995 also by JILA which won the Nobel Prize in 2001. Scientists believe fermionic condensate is one step closer to an everyday, usable superconductor. Abstract (full text subscription only).

By: stbalbach

stbalbach — Wed, 28 Jan 2004 17:12:42 -0800

Non-physics major announcement.

By: scarabic

scarabic — Wed, 28 Jan 2004 17:25:15 -0800

when I was in school we called these "states" of matter. Did something change?

By: banished

banished — Wed, 28 Jan 2004 18:41:07 -0800

What about semi-solids? (Example: toothpaste) Not unique enough for its own category?

By: iamck

iamck — Wed, 28 Jan 2004 18:47:54 -0800

MatterFilter.

By: RylandDotNet

RylandDotNet — Wed, 28 Jan 2004 18:49:59 -0800

banished: pastes are a mixture of solids and liquids, not a state of matter.

By: fvw

fvw — Wed, 28 Jan 2004 18:55:21 -0800

Toothpaste, at the molecular level, is just a mix of solids and liquids. You can suspend a solid in a liquid (a "colloid"), which is squishy like jelly for instance. I think tooth paste contains glycerine which makes it non-fluid. Vague memory though, corrections welcome.

By: kfury

kfury — Wed, 28 Jan 2004 18:58:12 -0800

So now my pagan circle consecrations have to have six points? I'll be here all night!

By: inpHilltr8r

inpHilltr8r — Wed, 28 Jan 2004 19:15:12 -0800

Toothpaste flows, given enough time. Other substances are also less easily classified. Is glass liquid or solid?

By: starkeffect

starkeffect — Wed, 28 Jan 2004 20:12:33 -0800

I don't see how a fermionic condensate would have much to do with high-Tc superconductivity. The former involves entire atoms, while the latter, since it takes place in a solid, involves only electrons and phonons.

By: starkeffect

starkeffect — Wed, 28 Jan 2004 20:15:39 -0800

And why isn't superfluid helium-3 considered a "fermionic condensate"?

By: Octaviuz

Octaviuz — Thu, 29 Jan 2004 00:03:27 -0800

I'm just a grad-school dropout but, don't the He3 nuclei pair up to form pseudo-bosons in the superfluid?

By: vacapinta

vacapinta — Thu, 29 Jan 2004 00:36:23 -0800

starkeffect, i believe this was the first creation of a superfluid using in this case magnetic resonance to induce the atoms into Cooper pairs (BCS) and then observing the transition to a bose-einstein condensate like state (actually, pseudo-bosons or fermion pairs as octaviuz states) So, the big news here is the creation and the observation of this transition phase. Offhand, its really not all that exciting outside of the superconductivity field. The first creation of a BE condensate however was a stunning confirmation of some deep principles in quantum physics. The full paper is available at arxiv.

By: Opus Dark

Opus Dark — Thu, 29 Jan 2004 00:53:44 -0800

A bit dated, starkeffect, but this should refresh you - and it's from Deborah herself.

By: lathrop

lathrop — Thu, 29 Jan 2004 06:37:57 -0800

My favorite colloid is pesto.

By: starkeffect

starkeffect — Thu, 29 Jan 2004 11:30:46 -0800

Thanks Opus... I have a PhD in physics but haven't thought about this kind of stuff for a while.