superfluidity
Sign in to savethumb|right|Helium#Helium II|Helium II will "creep" along surfaces in order to find its own level—after a short while, the levels in the two containers will equalize. The [[Rollin film also covers the interior of the larger container; if it were not sealed, the helium II would creep out and escape.]] thumb|right|The liquid helium is in the superfluid phase. A thin invisible film creeps up the inside wall of the bowl and down on the outside. A drop forms. It will fall off into the liquid helium below. This will repeat until the cup is empty—provided the liquid remains superfluid.
AI overview
Superfluidity is a state of matter, demonstrated by helium at very low temperatures, in which the liquid can flow without friction and creep along surfaces—even climbing up and over container walls—in ways that normal liquids cannot. This property matters because it reveals extraordinary behavior in materials under extreme conditions and helps scientists understand the fundamental physics of how matter behaves at the quantum level.
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Article
8 sectionsContents
- Superfluidity of liquid helium
- Cold atomic gases
- Superfluids in astrophysics
- In high-energy physics and quantum gravity
- See also
- References
- Further reading
- External links
thumb|right|Helium#Helium II|Helium II will "creep" along surfaces in order to find its own level—after a short while, the levels in the two containers will equalize. The [[Rollin film also covers the interior of the larger container; if it were not sealed, the helium II would creep out and escape.]] thumb|right|The liquid helium is in the superfluid phase. A thin invisible film creeps up the inside wall of the bowl and down on the outside. A drop forms. It will fall off into the liquid helium below. This will repeat until the cup is empty—provided the liquid remains superfluid.
thumb|Explanatory video on superfluidity Superfluidity is the characteristic property of a fluid with zero viscosity which therefore flows without any loss of kinetic energy. When stirred, a superfluid forms vortices that continue to rotate indefinitely. Superfluidity occurs in two isotopes of helium (helium-3 and helium-4) when they are liquefied by cooling to cryogenic temperatures. It is also a property of various other exotic states of matter theorized to exist in astrophysics, high-energy physics, and theories of quantum gravity. The semi-phenomenological theory of superfluidity was developed by Soviet theoretical physicists Lev Landau and Isaak Khalatnikov.