[Dr. Praetoria]

Go to--

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4170212.stm

Doc[:p]

[DoctorBeaver]

Interesting, but it didn't really say a lot. I'd like to know more.

We learn from history that we do not learn from history.
(Georg Hegel)

[daveshorts]

Sounds like a paper on Bose-Einstein Condensates, which from the name indicates that it was known to have something to do with einstien. I think it is probably interesting but not a new theory.

[Dr. Praetoria]

Yes, perhaps a "theory" only in its title.  I did find out a bit more--The paper predicted that at temperatures near absolute zero — around 273 degrees below zero Celsius or around 460 degrees below zero Fahrenheit — particles in a gas can reach a state of such low energy that they clump together in one larger "mono-atom."

The idea was developed in collaboration with Indian physicist Satyendra Nath Bose and the then-theoretical state of matter was dubbed a Bose-Einstein condensation.

In 1995, University of Colorado at Boulder scientists Eric Cornell and Carl Wiemann created such a condensation using a gas of the element rubidium and were awarded the Nobel prize for physics in 2001, together with Wolfgang Ketterle of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Doc

[DoctorBeaver]

DrPraetoria - But what does it mean? Does such a state of matter have any theoretical uses? Does it add anything useful to our understanding of matter?

We learn from history that we do not learn from history.
(Georg Hegel)

[Dr. Praetoria]

As you know, many such theories at first sight, seem to be inconsequential (special relativity, etc.  as an example).  So, who knows.

Doc