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[Xplicit 2.0]

imagine if u were able to swim in it... or should i say sink in it, with no friction you would be knacked in minutes and have to rest thus sink :-/ :-?

[Dishevelled Den]

as I'm experiencing what appears to be a completely sleepless night, I've fallen back on my old staple of a huge bowl of Sugarpuffs, ice-cold milk and some of my wife's Quantum theory books (she's fascinated by this stuff)

heres a wee snippet to get your head around -

Helium - at room temperature you can breathe it and speak in a squeaky voice, or fill balloons to float, etc
but cool it down to below 2 Kelvin its becomes a superfluid ruled by quantum physics - its a liquid that runs uphill and climbs walls! it also has no friction - put the superfluid helium in a bowl and start the bowl spinning - the liquid remains stationary while the bowl revolves around it!!
Now set the liquid in motion and leave the bowl still - the helium will continue revolving for ever - it'll never, ever stop!!  completely frictionless - utterly amazing 

So that must mean perpetual motion really is possible! :-/

Perhaps in theory Bob but only as long as the correct temperature was maintained - which would be difficult given the figures involved

No ultra low temperature - no motion

(If it were possible to have it contained within the bowl)

[Banjax]

as I'm experiencing what appears to be a completely sleepless night, I've fallen back on my old staple of a huge bowl of Sugarpuffs, ice-cold milk and some of my wife's Quantum theory books (she's fascinated by this stuff)

heres a wee snippet to get your head around -

Helium - at room temperature you can breathe it and speak in a squeaky voice, or fill balloons to float, etc
but cool it down to below 2 Kelvin its becomes a superfluid ruled by quantum physics - its a liquid that runs uphill and climbs walls! it also has no friction - put the superfluid helium in a bowl and start the bowl spinning - the liquid remains stationary while the bowl revolves around it!!
Now set the liquid in motion and leave the bowl still - the helium will continue revolving for ever - it'll never, ever stop!!  completely frictionless - utterly amazing 

So that must mean perpetual motion really is possible! :-/

Perhaps in theory Bob but only as long as the correct temperature was maintained - which would be difficult given the figures involved

No ultra low temperature - no motion

(If it were possible to have it contained within the bowl)

zulu's right, the energy required to maintain the low temp makes it completely impractical, and even if you could, what could you use a completely friction free, moving material for? it couldn't power anything....could it?

ps zulu - right again! the bowl needs to be upside down or the liquid simply floats away 

[Lizzie_Zoom]

as I'm experiencing what appears to be a completely sleepless night, I've fallen back on my old staple of a huge bowl of Sugarpuffs, ice-cold milk and some of my wife's Quantum theory books (she's fascinated by this stuff)

heres a wee snippet to get your head around -

Helium - at room temperature you can breathe it and speak in a squeaky voice, or fill balloons to float, etc
but cool it down to below 2 Kelvin its becomes a superfluid ruled by quantum physics - its a liquid that runs uphill and climbs walls! it also has no friction - put the superfluid helium in a bowl and start the bowl spinning - the liquid remains stationary while the bowl revolves around it!!
Now set the liquid in motion and leave the bowl still - the helium will continue revolving for ever - it'll never, ever stop!!  completely frictionless - utterly amazing 

So that must mean perpetual motion really is possible! :-/

Perhaps in theory Bob but only as long as the correct temperature was maintained - which would be difficult given the figures involved

No ultra low temperature - no motion

(If it were possible to have it contained within the bowl)

zulu's right, the energy required to maintain the low temp makes it completely impractical, and even if you could, what could you use a completely friction free, moving material for? it couldn't power anything....could it?;;ps

zuluzulu - right again! the bowl needs to be upside down or the liquid simply floats away 

 but widen our outlook to the possible uses of this perpetual motion.................out into the ice cold vacuum of space..........and then you can start to think of warp drives!

The answers are there. It is just a matter of how long man will take to find them

[bob.dent]

as I'm experiencing what appears to be a completely sleepless night, I've fallen back on my old staple of a huge bowl of Sugarpuffs, ice-cold milk and some of my wife's Quantum theory books (she's fascinated by this stuff)

heres a wee snippet to get your head around -

Helium - at room temperature you can breathe it and speak in a squeaky voice, or fill balloons to float, etc
but cool it down to below 2 Kelvin its becomes a superfluid ruled by quantum physics - its a liquid that runs uphill and climbs walls! it also has no friction - put the superfluid helium in a bowl and start the bowl spinning - the liquid remains stationary while the bowl revolves around it!!
Now set the liquid in motion and leave the bowl still - the helium will continue revolving for ever - it'll never, ever stop!!  completely frictionless - utterly amazing 

So that must mean perpetual motion really is possible! :-/

Perhaps in theory Bob but only as long as the correct temperature was maintained - which would be difficult given the figures involved

No ultra low temperature - no motion

(If it were possible to have it contained within the bowl)

zulu's right, the energy required to maintain the low temp makes it completely impractical, and even if you could, what could you use a completely friction free, moving material for? it couldn't power anything....could it?;;ps

zuluzulu - right again! the bowl needs to be upside down or the liquid simply floats away 

 but widen our outlook to the possible uses of this perpetual motion.................out into the ice cold vacuum of space..........and then you can start to think of warp drives!

The answers are there. It is just a matter of how long man will take to find them

Exceptionally well observed Lizzie, I think that's absolutely true.......thought provoking stuff.

[Banjax]

oh no Lizzie, don't get me started on FTL (faster than light) travel - I'll betray my nerdiness 

heres an interesting proposal from Mexican Miguel Alcubierre in the 90's for his method known as the Alcubierre Drive but quickly became known as the Warp Drive - far cooler name 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcubierre_drive

[Lizzie_Zoom]

oh no Lizzie, don't get me started on FTL (faster than light) travel - I'll betray my nerdiness 

heres an interesting proposal from Mexican Miguel Alcubierre in the 90's for his method known as the Alcubierre Drive but quickly became known as the Warp Drive - far cooler name 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcubierre_drive

Extremely interesting theory there BJ

I somehow favour the development of Quantum physics to embrace the ability of atoms, that all matter in the universe is constructed of, to seemingly 'travel ' at beyond light / warp speeds when not "in use" under human collective thought. 

As yet man, even after 100 years, is still struggling to understand, let alone explain all of the Quantum mechanics, but the potential seems to be beyond anything we can imagine in 2010.

[jereboam]

i just brought some H₂O to 273.15K and poured it on a tea bag - that was easy - you're right cem, it's going the other way thats the hard part - as far as i remember my physics absolute zero (0K) isn't achievable 

p.s. I grew up next to the River Kelvin, where Lord Kelvin got his title and hence the unit of temperature 

That normally doesn't work too well for iced tea - try using water at something like 373^oK and then or refrigerate or otherwise cool it to get to the ice point. 

[jereboam]

as I'm experiencing what appears to be a completely sleepless night, I've fallen back on my old staple of a huge bowl of Sugarpuffs, ice-cold milk and some of my wife's Quantum theory books (she's fascinated by this stuff)

heres a wee snippet to get your head around -

Helium - at room temperature you can breathe it and speak in a squeaky voice, or fill balloons to float, etc
but cool it down to below 2 Kelvin its becomes a superfluid ruled by quantum physics - its a liquid that runs uphill and climbs walls! it also has no friction - put the superfluid helium in a bowl and start the bowl spinning - the liquid remains stationary while the bowl revolves around it!!
Now set the liquid in motion and leave the bowl still - the helium will continue revolving for ever - it'll never, ever stop!!  completely frictionless - utterly amazing 

So that must mean perpetual motion really is possible! :-/

Perhaps in theory Bob but only as long as the correct temperature was maintained - which would be difficult given the figures involved

No ultra low temperature - no motion

(If it were possible to have it contained within the bowl)

zulu's right, the energy required to maintain the low temp makes it completely impractical, and even if you could, what could you use a completely friction free, moving material for? it couldn't power anything....could it?

ps zulu - right again! the bowl needs to be upside down or the liquid simply floats away 

Probably not right, I'm sorry to say.  The experiment would need to conducted in a vacuum, because any gaseous atmosphere would also have been reduced to liquid or solid form.  Therefore there would be nothing for the liquid helium to "float away" in.

Anyway, as a general rule, liquids don't float in gases.