Bose-Einstein Condensate

In 2001 the Nobel Prize in Physics went to two scientists, Eric Cornell of the National Institute of Standards and Technology and Carl Wieman at Colorado University, who were the first to achieve a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) in neutral atoms (The 2001 Nobel Prize in Physics ).

I am definitely not a physics person and Bose-Einstein condensate sounds like something I will never understand. But, believe it or not, there are some very readable sites on the Internet on this topic.

One of those sites is the University of Colorado's BCE Homepage. First off, we learn that the Bose-Einstein condensate is a new state of matter (a fifth state, the other four being gas, liquid, solid and plasma). Wonder how many more states of matter are out there waiting to be discovered. It was predicted in 1924 by A. Einstein and S. Bose but not created until 1995. The condensate requires ultra-cold temperatures to form. Wieman and Cornell first formed the condensate at 200-billionths of a degree Celsius above absolute zero. Interestingly, this page states that the coldest place in nature is the depth of outer space, which has a temperature of three degrees above absolute zero. That is why it is believed that the BEC doesn't occur naturally, since colder temperatures are needed for its formation. The University of Colorado site then goes on to explain what exactly a BEC is and how it was made. The discussion is an entertaining exchange between a student and a professor with helpful and fun animations to help with the understanding of the concept being considered. It is a very readable account.

The Bose-Einstein Condensate is Eric A. Cornell's and Carl E. Wieman's own story of how they went about forming the condensate. It was originally published in Scientific American in 1998.

What uses might the condensate be put to, one wonders? So far, it is too early to tell but remember, it took time before the full potential of the laser was realized. The site Bose-Einstein Condensate states that even if it turns out that the condensates have no important practical applications "...they have an important place in science for its own sake. They offer a clearer window than we have ever had before onto the weird world of quantum statistical mechanics. And quantum statistical mechanics is the deepest theory that present human science possesses: it underlies everything...."