In 1924, Albert Einstein and Satyendra Nath Bose predicted the "Bose-Einstein condensate," sometimes referred to as the fifth state of matter.
In the gas phase, the Bose-Einstein condensate remained an unverified theoretical prediction for many years. Finally in 1995, Wolfgang Ketterle and his team of graduate students produced such a condensate experimentally. A Bose-Einstein condensate is "colder" than a solid. It may occur when atoms have very similar (or the same) quantum levels, at temperatures very close to absolute zero (-273 °C)...
"Condensates" are extremely low-temperature fluids which contain properties and exhibit behaviors that are currently not completely understood, such as spontaneously flowing out of their containers. The effect is the consequence of quantum mechanics, which states that since continuous spectral regions can typically be neglected, systems can almost always acquire energy only in discrete steps. If a system is at such a low temperature that it is in the lowest energy state, it is no longer possible for it to reduce its energy, not even by friction. Without friction, the fluid will easily overcome gravity because of adhesion between the fluid and the container wall, and it will take up the most favorable position (all around the container).[4]
Bose–Einstein condensation is an exotic quantum phenomenon that was observed in dilute atomic gases for the first time in 1995, and is now the subject of intense theoretical and experimental study.[5]
- from Wikipedia: Bose-Einstein Condensate
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