Re: Practical Applications for SuperFluidity

Oliver Seiler (oseiler@unixg.ubc.ca)
Sat, 12 Oct 1996 10:45:55 -0700 (PDT)


On Fri, 11 Oct 1996, Anders Sandberg wrote:

> I'm not sure its that useful, since it only occurs at very low
> temperatures. Sending superfluid materials through pipelines would
> definitely be useful, but I doubt we can use it for anything but
> helium.

An idea: Given that the temperature at which superconductivity is
possible (through the development of new materials) is slowly rising,
why not try to do the same with superfluidity? What is the current
understanding of the physics behind superfluidity? I'm sure this sort
of research is going on anyway, so I'm sure we'll eventually see more
uses.

A quick search on altavista turns up quite a bit on the subject,
including research with a lithium gas at low temperatures (I couldn't
tell from the abstract whether this was through simulation or not).

-Oliver

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