Quantum state: Astronauts create 'exotic' fifth state of matter on the International Space Station

Astronauts on board the International Space Station have managed to create an 'exotic matter' by using the microgravity of space.

The study saw researchers generate the fifth state of matter, which is also known as Bose-Einstein condensates (BEC). These are created when a gas of bosons is cooled down nearly to absolute zero.

According to a report in The Independent, at these extreme temperatures, matter begins to behave oddly and atoms become a single entity showing quantum properties.

Plasma filaments in a Nikola Tesla style plasma lamp. representational Image. Image credit: Wikipedia

The report mentions that scientists have always hoped to use the Bose-Einstein condensates to gain insight into quantum mechanics, but gravity has always been a deterring factor. This led researchers to send equipment known as the Cold Atom Lab to the International Space Station.

New Scientist reports that Cold Atom Laboratory (CAL) was launched to the ISS in 2018 to investigate the Bose-Einstein condensate.

It reveals that the substance was first theorised by Albert Einstein and Satyendra Nath Bose in the early 1920s as the fifth state of matter.

A report in Space.com mentions Robert Thompson, a physicist at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena saying that while researchers have created Bose-Einstein condensates using rubidium atoms, they eventually incorporate potassium atoms as well to find out what happens when two condensates intermingle.

Thomson added that while earlier their major insights into the inner workings of nature have come from particle accelerators and astronomical observatories, he believes that in in the future, “Precision measurements using cold atoms will play an increasingly important role.”

The report stated that researchers, by using the Cold Atom Lab, found they could increase the amount of time they can analyze these condensates to more than one second. Scientists would only have hundredths of a single second for the same task when performing the experiments on Earth.

The results of the study were published in the 11 June issue of the journal Nature.



from Firstpost Tech Latest News https://ift.tt/37yymml

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Elon Musk’s bid spotlights Twitter’s unique role in public discourse – and what changes might be in store

Twitter has been in the news a lot lately, albeit for the wrong reasons. Its stock growth has languished and the platform itself has largely remained the same since its founding in 2006. On April 14, 2022, Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, made an offer to buy Twitter and take the public company private. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission , Musk stated, “I invested in Twitter as I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe, and I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy.” As a researcher of social media platforms , I find that Musk’s potential ownership of Twitter and his stated reasons for buying the company raise important issues. Those issues stem from the nature of the social media platform and what sets it apart from others. What makes Twitter unique Twitter occupies a unique niche. Its short chunks of text and threading foster real-time conversations among thousands of people, which
Read more

To reach net-zero emissions and remove CO2 from the air, scientists drawn up six priorities

Image
To reach net-zero emissions by 2050, global emissions must be cut faster and deeper than the world has yet managed. But even then, some hard-to-treat sources of pollution – in aviation, agriculture and cement making – may linger for longer than we would like. It will take time for clean alternatives to arrive and replace them. That means the world also needs to find and ramp up ways of taking CO₂ out of the atmosphere to stabilise the climate. Just meeting the UK’s net-zero target is likely to require the removal of 100 million tonnes of CO₂ a year , similar in size to current emissions from the country’s largest-emitting sector, road transport, but in reverse. The UK government’s announcement of £31.5 million (US$44.7 million) in support for research and development of carbon removal is welcome. And while trials of new tech will help, there are many social issues that need to be tackled if removing greenhouse gases is to succeed. Done right, carbon removal could be the perfect a
Read more

NASA is planning to partner with SpaceX to reboost the Hubble Telescope and extend its life

Image
The Hubble Space Telescope is one of the most important scientific achievements of the human species that has helped us understand space. It has been in orbit for over 30 years and has been feeding some of the most vital streams of information that has not only helped us steer our space exploration efforts, but also solve some of the more deep mysteries of the universe . NASA would love to extend its usable life for as long as possible. Unfortunately, for some years now, Hubble Space Telescope has been slipping out of its orbit. That is why, NASA is planning to team up with Elon Musk’s SpaceX and place it into a higher much more stable orbit. NASA, SpaceX and Jared Isaacman, a private astronaut with the Polaris Program, hosted a media teleconference on Thursday to announce a feasibility study that will look into sending a commercial Dragon spacecraft to reboost the Hubble Space Telescope . This will, in effect place the telescope into a higher and more stable orbit than it’s curren
Read more