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The Nobel Prize in Physics 1996

Superfluidity

 

 

Pyotr Kapitza* discovered that liquid helium flows without friction when cooled below 2.17 K. This phenomenon is termed superfluidity. A superfluid shows several spectacular effects. For example, superfluid helium cannot be kept in an open vessel because then the fluid creeps as a thin film up the vessel wall and over the rim.

 

 

*Nobel Prize 1978

  

Introduction »
Significant kinks »
Helium  »
Colder than cold »
Superfluidity »
Phases and phase transition »
Statistical laws explain differences »
How 3He becomes superfluid »
Whirlpools »
Further reading  »