A nanokelvin microwave freezer for molecules

When a highly diluted gas is cooled to extremely low temperatures, bizarre properties are revealed. Thus, some gases form a so-called Bose-Einstein condensate—a type of matter in which all atoms move in unison. Another ...

Physicists create compressible optical quantum gas

Researchers at the University of Bonn have created a gas of light particles that can be extremely compressed. Their results confirm the predictions of central theories of quantum physics. The findings could also point the ...

Science of building sandcastles finally understood

Water vapor from ambient air will spontaneously condense inside porous materials or between touching surfaces. But with the liquid layer being only a few molecules thick, this phenomenon has lacked understanding, until now.

Solving a condensation mystery

Condensation might ruin a wood coffee table or fog up glasses when entering a warm building on a winter day, but it's not all inconveniences; the condensation and evaporation cycle has important applications.

Jumping drops get boost from gravity

A decade ago a new idea was brought into the general scientific community—shedding water from condensers was more efficient by using surface tension to make microscopic water droplets "jump" off the surface. The idea took ...

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