Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Liquid helium is a physical state of helium at very low temperatures at standard atmospheric pressures. Liquid helium may show superfluidity . At standard pressure, the chemical element helium exists in a liquid form only at the extremely low temperature of −269 °C (−452.20 °F; 4.15 K).
In liquid helium-4, the superfluidity occurs at far higher temperatures than it does in helium-3. Each atom of helium-4 is a boson particle, by virtue of its integer spin . A helium-3 atom is a fermion particle; it can form bosons only by pairing with another particle like itself, which occurs at much lower temperatures.
Liquid helium also has this property, but, in the case of He-II, the flow of the liquid in the layer is not restricted by its viscosity but by a critical velocity which is about 20 cm/s. This is a fairly high velocity so superfluid helium can flow relatively easily up the wall of containers, over the top, and down to the same level as the ...
Consequently, if a liquid has dynamic viscosity of n centiPoise, and its density is not too different from that of water, then its kinematic viscosity is around n centiStokes. For gas, the dynamic viscosity is usually in the range of 10 to 20 microPascal-seconds, or 0.01 to 0.02 centiPoise. The density is usually on the order of 0.5 to 5 kg/m^3.
Existing theory explains this using the two-fluid model for helium II. In this model, liquid helium below the lambda point is viewed as containing a proportion of helium atoms in a ground state, which are superfluid and flow with exactly zero viscosity, and a proportion of helium atoms in an excited state, which behave more like an ordinary fluid.
A simple and widespread empirical correlation for liquid viscosity is a two-parameter exponential: = / This equation was first proposed in 1913, and is commonly known as the Andrade equation (named after British physicist Edward Andrade). It accurately describes many liquids over a range of temperatures.
Within this liquid state, helium has two phases referred to as helium I and helium II. Helium I displays thermodynamic and hydrodynamic properties of classical fluids, along with quantum characteristics. However, below its lambda point of 2.17 K, helium transitions to He II and becomes a quantum superfluid with zero viscosity. [2]
It has the lowest boiling point of all of the elements. Liquid helium exhibits super-fluidity, superconductivity, and near-zero viscosity; its thermal conductivity is greater than that of any other known substance (more than 1,000 times that of copper). Helium can only be solidified at −272.20 °C under a pressure of 2.5 MPa.