New state of matter

Welcome the supersolids

https://cosmosmagazine.com/physics/a-new-form-of-matter-scientists-create-the-first-supersolid

Deal with it! 😠

No love for the newly found state of matter?

Is he, or she, like the step child of matter?

Originally posted by whodey
No love for the newly found state of matter?

Is he, or she, like the step child of matter?

In this context "new state of matter" just means "we made something with unusual properties." In this case they claim to have created a supersolid, which combines a crystalline structure with frictionless flow of atoms within that structure. The latter is a well-known property of superfluids (e.g. liquid helium) while the former is ubiquitous in nature (e.g. a piece of ordinary iron).

Originally posted by KazetNagorra
In this context "new state of matter" just means "we made something with unusual properties." In this case they claim to have created a supersolid, which combines a crystalline structure with frictionless flow of atoms within that structure. The latter is a well-known property of superfluids (e.g. liquid helium) while the former is ubiquitous in nature (e.g. a piece of ordinary iron).

I think what is new about this stuff is the ability to go into two separate forms of the crystal without expending energy, which sounds like a very good trick indeed. Sounds almost like perpetual motion which it is, the caveat is you cannot extract energy out of the system, at least for more than a femtosecond or so.....