Superfluid Liquids are Like Magic

Super fact 60 : Superfluids such as liquid Helium cooled below -455.58 Fahrenheit exhibit some very strange characteristics such as it flows right through many solids, it climbs walls, it has near zero viscosity, it exhibits circulating flows that never stop despite no energy being added. It is a Macroscopic Quantum Phenomenon.

When gases are cooled far enough, they will turn into liquids and eventually typically to solids. For example, Oxygen becomes a liquid when its temperature drops to -297 Fahrenheit, which is -183 Celsius, or 90 degrees Kelvin. Kelvin is 0 at absolute zero, the coldest possible temperature, and in addition it uses Celsius for the scale. So, 90 degrees Kelvin is 90 degrees Celsius above absolute zero or 162 degrees Fahrenheit above absolute zero. When Oxygen becomes a liquid, it turns into a pale blue liquid. Oxygen becomes a solid at 54 Kelvin, or −218.8 Celsius, and −361.8 Fahrenheit (at normal pressure). It becomes sky blue ice.

Helium stays a gas until very extreme temperatures. Helium becomes a liquid at 4.2 kelvin or -269 Celsius, or -452.11 Fahrenheit. If the temperature is reduced further by almost half to 2.17 Kelvin, or -270.98 Celsius, or -455.8 Fahrenheit, then Helium suddenly becomes a superfluid, exhibiting macroscopic quantum phenomena. It is so different from normal liquid Helium that it is called Helium II. Its heat conductivity (speed of heat/cold transfer) suddenly increases by one million, and the temperature will become the same throughout the liquid instantly. Even a big pool of liquid helium would almost instantly get the same temperature throughout, and the atoms will start behaving in unison. Regular bubbles can no longer exist (atom sized electron bubbles can exist though).

The liquid starts behaving in bizarre ways. If you place an open metal container of Helium II in a closed room the Helium II would climb out of the container and escape, and a thin film of Helium II would climb the walls and the ceiling. If the floor was made of metal or glazed tile the Helium II would remain on the floor. If the floor was made of unglazed tile or stone, it would leak right through the floor as if the floor was a sieve. If you get a whirlpool or fountain going it will keep going forever without any energy loss. In addition, it would also exhibit many quantum effects that are out of scope for this post.

Superfluid Liquids are Like Magic
Unlike ordinary liquids, helium II will creep along surfaces in order to reach an equal level; after a short while, the levels in the two containers will equalize. The Rollin film also covers the interior of the larger container; if it were not sealed, the helium II would creep out and escape. From : Hampel, Clifford A. (1968). The Encyclopedia of the Chemical Elements. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold. pp. 256–268 (referenced by Wikipedia). Design: Aarchiba; SVG rendering: Júlio Reis, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0&gt;, via Wikimedia Commons

I consider this a super fact because this is a strange, surprising and not a well-known phenomenon. It is a quantum effect that you can observe with your own eyes. It is important because the discovery of superfluidity and its twin effect superconductivity are very important for science and might lead to revolutionizing energy transport in the future. It is no doubt that the phenomenon is real  (true), and it has been documented by numerous experiments and papers. It is described in thousands of textbooks, and I’ve observed the phenomenon with my own eyes (that is next).

Our Experiment with Superfluid Helium

During my first class in Quantum Physics, we performed experiments with liquid Helium. We started out by cooling helium using liquid nitrogen (colder than -196 Celsius or -321 Fahrenheit). Then using vacuum pumps, we kept cooling the Helium until it became liquid. We continued cooling it and we could see lots of bubbles and boiling as we kept going, and then it boiled extra much, and then very quickly the bubbles vanished, and the content of the entire glass container settled down and then stood perfectly still.

As 2.17 Kelvin was reached the viscosity (flow resistance) was instantly lowered with about one million times, and non-microscopic bubbles could no longer exist. The heat conductivity (the speed with which temperature spreads) increased by one million times. It means that the heat of a drop falling in one end of a swimming pool of Helium II would spread throughout the swimming pool in a second. Except, we only had a glass container in which sameness reigned throughout the liquid.

We continued doing experiments such as watching the Helium II climb walls inside the experimental setup, and of course the famous fountain. Insert a little metallic straw and watch a Helium fountain start to flow, by itself. Without any energy or pressure added, it just kept going by itself because no energy was lost either.

I can add that it was more of a demonstration than an experiment that we actively participated in because playing with extreme temperatures high or low is dangerous. If you’ve read this blog for a while you might remember when I put a Cesium-137 sample (800 times more radioactive than Plutonium-239) in my jeans pocket instead of back into its lead brick container and walked around with it a whole day. Or that time when I replaced a fuse for a 380 volt three phase powered laser with my finger because I was curious what would happen if I put my finger in there, and I was shocked, and it hurt. Students shouldn’t play with dangerous stuff.

Below is a one minute and forty four second YouTube video of a Superfluid / Helium II experiment showing an eternal fountain.

Below is a four minute explanation of a superfluid / Helium II experiment.

I can add that Helium II (super cold helium) is not the only superfluid but the easiest one to achieve.

Other Physics Related Superfacts

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Author: thomasstigwikman

My name is Thomas Wikman. I am a software/robotics engineer with a background in physics. I am currently retired. I took early retirement. I am a dog lover, and especially a Leonberger lover, a home brewer, craft beer enthusiast, I’m learning French, and I am an avid reader. I live in Dallas, Texas, but I am originally from Sweden. I am married to Claudia, and we have three children. I have two blogs. The first feature the crazy adventures of our Leonberger Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle as well as information on Leonbergers. The second blog, superfactful, feature information and facts I think are very interesting. With this blog I would like to create a list of facts that are accepted as true among the experts of the field and yet disputed amongst the public or highly surprising. These facts are special and in lieu of a better word I call them super-facts.

71 thoughts on “Superfluid Liquids are Like Magic”

  3. Fun looking experiments, and interesting to know about. But what is the point of knowing this fun fact? What’s that helium used for? Is it just for blowing up balloons? Sorry, just showing how much I don’t know! 🙂

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    1. That is a good question. The thing is that superfluidity is an important discovery. Scientists are trying to achieve superfluidity and suprconductivity at higher temperatures because it could revolutionize energy production and energy transport. Superconductivity means conducting electricity at zero resistance. For example, if you start a current in a closed loop of superconducting material, an electric current could flow forever without a power source. A circle of superconducting copper would have current in it that would circle for ever until you cut the cord. That’s great storage. No batteries needed. The metal itself stores the current. The characteristica of superfluidity and superconductivity are so extreme that it opens up interesting possibilities for future technolgy we may not have considered yet. In addition, the discovery generated a lot of new science. I agree it looks like just a weird fact, which it is, but I also think it has important implications in various ways.

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        1. Maybe it was not the best explanation but basically it is easy to focus on the magical circus trick of helium climbing walls and pouring through rock, which is cool, but what makes it important is that it is not how liquids are supposed to behave, and it is not how helium before becoming superfluid behaves. It isn’t the fact that it is helium that is important. It is important because it is an exceptional phenomenon that you can do something with.

          I looked it up and they already use it for creating superconducting magnets useful for particle accelerators and future fusions reactors (nuclear energy using sea water as fuel and with no nuclear waste). Superfluids can also be used for discovering new Fundamental Physics, for Cryogenics, it is used for Infrared Telescopes, Understanding Extreme Environments, Exotic Particle Detection and in the future discovering new exotic forms of materials including supersolids, and quantum solvents, super fast electronics, and quantum computing.

          Debbie below also pointed out that liquid helium is used in MRI machines to achieve superconducting magnets. I said “they typically don’t cool the helium all the way the superfluidity because features like zero viscosity is risky”. Turns out I was wrong. It is much more efficient if you can reach superfluidity so so me MRI machines do that too.

          It reminds me of when Michael Faraday discovered that moving a magnet through a coil (wires) caused an electric current in the coil. At first it just looks like a cool trick but it is an early electric motor, generator, etc., and fueled the second industrial revolution and all the electricity we have. A politician asked him what good is it? and Michael Faraday said “what good is a new born baby?”. So after a long rant, I just wanted to say that it is a cool phenomenon but it also a fundamental scientific discovery that can lead to a lot of new things, which is why I called it important.

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          1. Many thanks for explaining, Thomas! That’s fascinating and I’m always so taken aback at the discoveries and knowing that underneath that there’s so infinitely much more that we don’t even know that we don’t know. We’re just scratching the surface.

            I’ve read before about the theories as to why we haven’t by this point been visited by extra-terrestrials. The best theory out there (in my opinion) is that there are many inhabited planets (or have been) but that most of them destroy themselves before they can reach the levels of advancement required for realistic space travel, especially given the distances. That leaves a few who survive but separated by immense distances with the possibility of never finding others. Which takes me back to these the interesting discoveries you describe: I hope we can make it to a much more mature and evolved world culture that is able to pursue all the things we don’t know yet.

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            1. You are right Lynette. Isaac Asimov said that “The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not “Eureka!” (I found it!) but “That’s funny …” The strange behavior of superfluid Helium is funny. However, there’s probably a lot more that will come out of it. I think the theory, or rather hypothesis you bring up is quite interesting but maybe not so happy.

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              1. The thought that a lot more will come out of it is exciting!
                As to the hypothesis (yes, more correctly) perhaps it’s not very happy, but being able to get past our prejudices and selfishness is important to real progression (like finding out the “lot more” that will come out of superfluid helium) and perhaps long-term, real space flight and who knows what else?

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                1. Yes I agree with you. We have to be able to get along or our technology can destroy us and I believe that is true for AI. If we are using AI to fight each other, inestad of developing AI with a motherly personality, then AI could destroy us. I can add that as I kept looking for practical applications of superfluidity today I came across the use of Bose-Einstein Condensates on Microchips leading in turn to advanced quantum computing, ultra precise sensors, atom lasers, and advanced quantum information processing. Scientists are working on this right now.

                  I can add that Bose-Einstein Condensates is a special state of exotic matter, which is not a gas, not a solid, and not a liquid, but a state in which the atoms all have the same state and are acting in unison. Albert Einstein worked out the theory of Bose-Einstein Condensates by using the statistics for photons (light particles) developed by Satyendra Nath Bose, an Indian physicist. Then people figured out that the reason Helium II acted like a superfluid was because it had partially or largely turned into a Bose-Einstein Condensate. We already have the physics Einstein’s and Bose’s had developed for it, and Bose-Einstein Condensate is obviously a real thing, and it has hundreds of applications. So Helium II became very interesting.

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                  1. I can add that why Albert Einstein used Bose’s statistics for photons (light) rather than the Fermi-Dirac statistics you use on matter particles because a Bose-Einstein Condensate behaves in several key respects like light. In fact Bose-Einstein Condensates are often referred to as matter wave lasers. So that’s what superfluid Helium is, rather than normal matter. I think there will be a lot coming out of this in the future.

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                  2. Thank you very much for the explanation, Thomas. I see why Helium II became so interesting to you!

                    I agree about AI and how it really could get out of control if we aren’t cautious. Unfortunately I don’t have much confidence in that as there’s so much money to be made. For example, there were observational concerns (that were usually ignored: the hyperactivity or apathy and the signs of developmental delays) around young kids’ early exposure to screens and now the data shows without question how dangerous they are to the developing brain (exposure thins the cortex). It’s amazing how we humans so often act first and ask questions later …

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                    1. Yes it is interesting that Bill Gates put a limit on his daughter’s screen time and game playing time and did not allow her to have a cell phone until she was 14 (average is 10 years) and Steve Jobs also took action against kids having access to technology. In retrospect we let our kids play too much computer games.

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                    3. It was smart that you held off with his cell phone. In general internet access may seem necessary for certain things but social media has become so toxic with ignorant and hostile people and bots swarming the place. It is not for children. Computer games is a huge temptation.

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  6. Very interesting to read about liquid helium! Following up on Barb’s question, I read that liquid helium is used to cool magnets in MRI machines, so it definitely is useful. Thanks for furthering my education, Thomas! 🙂

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    1. Yes you are right. I have to admit I did not know that until I read your comment. They use liquid helium for the MRI machines to cool the metal to achieve superconductive so there’s no need worry about heat or loss of energy. However, they typically don’t cool the helium all the way the superfluidity because features like zero viscosity is risky. However, it has a lot of potential uses that are still science fiction.

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    2. Actually, I have to take back what I said “they typically don’t cool the helium all the way the superfluidity because features like zero viscosity is risky. ” If you can contain superfluid helium that is much more efficient than liquid helium that is not superfluid, and some MRI machines use that.

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    1. I should say that Helium is not a superfluid until below 2.7 Kelvin and then it is called Helium II because it is so different from regular Helium. Scientists are trying to create other kinds of superfluids and they have succeded with hydrogen and some other materials. This could be a very useful phenomenon if you could create superfluids or superconductors at room temperatures.

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            1. Good question, but there are surprisingly many potential applications. Superfluid helium is already used in Infrared Telescopes, and for exotic particle detection. It is used in particle accelerators and MRI machines to create superconducting magnets that generate very strong magnetic fields without energy loss or heat generated, and could be essential for future fusion reactors (Nuclear reactors using seawater for fuel and no waste). Also, in the future for discovering new exotic forms of materials including supersolids, and quantum solvents, and super-fast electronics, and quantum computing. There is a lot of science that comes out of studying superfluid helium, and other more recently discovered superfluids. Superfluids are closely related to (often the same) as Bose-Einstein Condensates that potentially has hundreds of applications in advanced quantum computing, ultra precise sensors, atom lasers, and advanced quantum information processing. It’s a quantum phenomenon and needs more study but there are probably a lot more surprising discoveries to be made.

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    1. Yes you are absolutely right Lynette. I focused a lot on the cool phenomena such as superfluid climbing walls and going through rock, but it is the potential applications of it that makes it important.

      In response to a question above I looked it up and superfluids are already used for creating superconducting magnets useful for particle accelerators and future fusions reactors (nuclear energy using sea water as fuel and with no nuclear waste). Superfluids can also be used for discovering new Fundamental Physics, for Cryogenics, it is used for Infrared Telescopes, Understanding Extreme Environments, Exotic Particle Detection and in the future discovering new exotic forms of materials including supersolids, and quantum solvents, super fast electronics, and quantum computing.

      Debbie above also pointed out that liquid helium is used in MRI machines to achieve superconducting magnets. I said “they typically don’t cool the helium all the way the superfluidity because features like zero viscosity is risky”. Turns out I was wrong. It is much more efficient if you can reach superfluidity so so me MRI machines do that too.

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  14. A great post on the behavior of superfluids. That sounds like a great demonstration. Although I have had ample opportunities to work with liquid helium, I’ve never worked with it or seen it demonstrated in its superfluid state, only read about it.

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    1. That is very interesting. As I understand liquid helium is very useful but it is special when you reach the superfluid state. We used a container of special glass that could contain it and used various grippers on cranks and lever to perform the experiments.

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  17. Wow this is such an interesting post . Thomas I knew nothing about helium apart from if you suck some out of a balloon you get a squeaky voice of course I also googled it and science fiction stories apart it has infinite uses and probably more as science advances….I do think if I had seen that climbing quietly up a wall before I had read this I would have freaked out but not now it would fascinate me…

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  21. Another fascinating superfact Thomas. The superfluid video was fascinating, despite the fact that I can’t comprehend the physics behind it, lol. Physics and chemistry weren’t my strong points in high school.😅, admittedly. I enjoyed and was awed at your experiments. I’m wondering, are you a retired physicist?

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    1. Thank you so much Debby. Superfluidity is a very strange quantum phenomenon and comprehending the physics behind it isn’t something many can do. I am a retired engineer with a PhD in Electrical Engineering and Applied Physics and a Master Degree in Engineering Physics. However, I spent most of my life in Robotics, Automation and software. I am not a retired physicist but I have a fairly strong background in the topic.

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        1. I am fascinated by physics but I did not go down that route because I felt it might not be a secure job and I was afraid of the publish or perish thing. You have to be very smart to make it in that career. I will never know whether that was the right or wrong decision.

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  22. This post is absolutely fascinating! Thomas, your combination of clear explanations, firsthand experience, and discussion of potential applications makes superfluid helium both understandable and inspiring. Quantum phenomena really feel like magic! ✨

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      1. “You’re most welcome! ✨ Superfluid Helium truly is fascinating—almost like nature’s own poetry written in physics. The way it defies our usual expectations reminds me how much wonder is hidden in creation. I look forward to reading more of your explorations into these marvels!” 🌌🔬

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        1. Thank you so much Livora for your very kind words. Yes superfluid helium is a quite remarkable liquid, if you can call it liquid, it is really a special quantum state. Anyway, imagine the things you can create by using the principles behind the phenomenon.

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