Superfluidity in Low Temperature Physics

When cooling liquid helium down to -270 degrees Celsius, only a few degrees above absolute zero*, quantum mechanical effects begin to take place.  At this temperature, liquid helium becomes a 'superfluid', more precisely, a liquid that flows with no viscosity.  It has other strange characteristics, including climbing the edges (seemingly against gravity) of a container and remaining still when it is in a spinning container.  The liquid helium goes through a transformation called the Bose-Einstein condensation.  During this phase, the particles within the fluid cease to act separate, and begin to act as one big particle.  In other words, the atoms of the fluid act in unison, creating quantum mechanical effects.

*Absolute zero refers to the temperature at which no heat energy remains within a material; fundamental particles exhibit little to no vibrational motion.  This point is essentially impossible to reach. Below: Photo of a small glass container holding an amount of superfluid helium.  Fluid can be seen dripping from the bottom of the container.  The fluid actually climbs over the walls of the container and drips off the bottom, back into the rest of the fluid.  http://ipfactly.com/liquid-helium-superfluid-state/

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