Posted 09.17.2009 at 3:15 pm
12 Comments
For decades, scientists have debated whether or not gasses could display the same magnetic properties as solids. Now, thanks to some MIT scientists, they know the answer is a freezing cold yes.
MIT researchers have observed magnetism in an atomic gas of lithium cooled down to 150 millionths of a degree above absolute zero. This experiment represents a point of unification between condensed matter research and the field of atomic science and lasers, and could influence areas such as data storage and medical diagnostics.
To get the lithium gas so cold, the researchers trained an infrared laser beam on the gaseous cloud. Laser cooling is the primary method physicists use to lower gas temperatures to near absolute zero. The laser essentially stun the atoms, slowing them down, and thus lowering the temperature.
After initially growing, the cloud began to shrink. That shrinkage, combined with the speed of expansion after the laser turned off, indicated that the lithium atoms had become magnetic.
"It's very important from an overall theoretical point of view because it gives us an understanding of magnetism at its smallest possible scale," Scott Pritchard, an MIT professor, and one of the experiment leaders, told us.
He added that the theoretical breakthroughs this experiment hints at, rather than the technical achievement, would have the most practical impact. This is especially true in data storage, where the tiny magnetic grains that make up computer memory follow many of the physical laws better explicated by this discovery.
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Wow, is MIT amazing or what?
RT
www.real-privacy.net.tc
Maybe some day we'll be able to make our own gas more attractive.
Wow that is awesome!
LB
http://www.electroniccigarettesinc.com
from coral gables, fl
Compression and expansion is an indication of magnetism? I thought it had to do with the ability to attract metals, induce electric/magnetic fields, or interact with other magnetic substances.... That's why they're in MIT I guess.
This just screams "magnetic farts"
-DaSonicMan
Still thats pretty cool-DaSonicMan
not necessarily. if you magenetically charge the particles in the gas they would attract to each other causing the cloud of gas to condense... correct?
2billion$.
You have used the phrase "the first ever magnetic gas".
Does this mean that this phenomenon has never ever occurred in the universe at any time?.
If the gas particles manifest magnetism in the way iron particles manifest magnetism, then the gas particles would cohere and form a solid. Is this not so, Professor Scott Pritchard?.
Non of the properties of magnetism have appeared in this report about magnetism.
Professor Albert Einstein stated that in order for the big facts to be true, the little facts must be be true.
What is an atomic gas?.
Is it a gas that has atoms in it?.
Is there any gas that has zero atoms in it,(a vacuum)?.
locjuwtus.
2billion$.
You have used the phrase "the first ever magnetic gas".
Does this mean that this phenomenon has never ever occurred in the universe at any time before now?.
If the gas particles manifest magnetism in the manner that iron particles manifest magnetism in, then the gas particles would cohere and form a solid. Is this not so, Professor Scott Pritchard?.
None of the properties of magnetism has been mentioned in this report about magnetism.
Professor Albert Einstein stated that in order for the big facts to be true, the little facts must be true.
This is the definition of logic.
What is an atomic gas?.
Is it a gas that has atoms in it?.
Is there any gas that has zero atoms in it,(a vacuum)?.
locjuwtus.
What about the paramagnetic properties of Oxygen? We have been using this property of oxygen molecules in industrial analyzers for decades.
RAINDAD
Robert1234: "...in order for the big facts to be true, the little facts must be true. This is the definition of logic." Wrong, it has nothing to do with being a definition.
The "atomic gas" is a gas composed of "loose" atoms of the material. As for attraction due to magnetism, either the gas in the first observed magnetic monopoles in history or they were oriented with opposing poles. Magnets can either attract or repel, remember? It would be much nicer is they were real monopoles, which would have real instantly practical value. I'd take MIT's word it proves magnetism even if I can't follow that particular logic.
Besides, what the article actually said was that the cloud initially began to expand, then condensed. That's exactly what I'd expect to happen. Initially, as the cloud warms, it would naturally expand like any warming gas, but then, as the magnetic atoms become free enough to rotate they would align themselves (-) pole to (+) pole, and they would, like iron filings, be attracted to each other and condense. No real mystery there, but then I sure can't claim to totally understand the implications of a magnetic gas.
For balance, the article could have mentioned "ferrofluids" since, after all, there are three normal phases of matter (excluding plasmas and Bose-Einstein condensates). However, ferrofluids seem to be, well, cheating since it is actually just a colloidal mixture of a magnetic solid suspended in a carrier fluid. Can we make a magnetic liquid that is made out of just one element, or is a true compound and not just a mixture?