00:00You can hear colors. You can see sounds. Uh, what? That sounds pretty psychedelic, doesn't it?
00:07In fact, scientists can do that in their experiments. But recently, they've discovered something really awesome.
00:14How about feeling a solid light? A light that can simultaneously be liquid like water and solid like ice.
00:23You need to know quantum physics and chemistry to understand how this happens.
00:27Or you can watch this video and figure it out.
00:31Are you ready to feel like a scientist? Let's go!
00:35So, for the first time in history, people have made a super solid from light.
00:40It's a substance that, actually no, it's not even a substance.
00:44It's a state of matter that behaves both like a body and like a liquid at the same time.
00:50An ordinary solid, such as a phone, doesn't change its size, direction, and density, unless you throw it under a car.
00:57But a super solid changes direction and density while maintaining its structure.
01:02That is, the car runs over your phone, it's broken and crushed, but at the same time, it's completely fine.
01:10How is this possible? It's all about atoms.
01:14Yes, it's hard to imagine, but let's try to delve into this issue.
01:17So, take a piece of metal, like silver. It's solid, right?
01:22Its atoms are lined up in a row and form something similar to a crystal lattice.
01:27That is, they don't go anywhere.
01:29In a liquid, such as soda, the structure has fluidity.
01:34It means that no cell holds the entire soda structure.
01:38Atoms just spread out.
01:40A super solid retains its structure and flows at the same time.
01:44Don't try to understand it. Feel it.
01:47Imagine an ice cube passing through a grate.
01:50It doesn't spread, but remains just as solid.
01:53It's like that legendary sci-fi movie where a robot made of liquid metal walks through a prison door.
02:00But how is this possible?
02:02The answer is quantum physics.
02:05Cool a substance to absolute zero, which is negative 459 degrees Fahrenheit.
02:11It's incredibly cold, and you're unlikely to come across such a temperature in space.
02:16At least, not in our solar system.
02:17It's so cold that the atoms inside the substance hardly move and begin to show quantum effects.
02:26They stop moving chaotically.
02:28They start to obey quantum laws.
02:31Imagine a crowd of people on a city street.
02:34All of them are going in different directions at different speeds.
02:37At some point, they suddenly start walking in the same rhythm as a whole.
02:42That's how atoms in a substance create a single quantum field.
02:46Scientists call this effect Bose-Einstein condensation.
02:51Here's another example.
02:53Just to make sure we've got it right.
02:55Imagine a party where hundreds of people are dancing.
02:58Everyone's listening to different music playing in their headphones.
03:01Each person is moving in a different way.
03:04Someone is dancing a slow dance with their soulmate.
03:07Someone is showing breakdance moves.
03:09Someone is filming a trendy dance for TikTok.
03:12They are all atoms that behave chaotically.
03:15And then, all of a sudden, they start dancing in the same way.
03:19Like a big dance ensemble that's been rehearsing a synchronized dance for months.
03:24The randomness of atoms is put in order.
03:27That's how Bose-Einstein condensation works.
03:31Atoms under the influence of low temperatures begin to behave like one large atom.
03:36They seem to forget about their individuality and begin to live by the same quantum rules.
03:41And this is one of the coolest things in physics.
03:45As far as scientists know, such an effect doesn't occur in nature.
03:50Bose-Einstein condensation can be created in a laboratory setting.
03:53A similar process occurs in neutron stars.
03:57But it's still difficult for us to get them and conduct research.
04:03So, chaotic particles begin to synchronize and behave as a single whole.
04:07They can also pass through one another without friction, like spirits, while maintaining a crystal cage.
04:14And the crystal cage is the structure of a solid substance, remember?
04:19It's paradoxical, but it works.
04:21Imagine two streams of water.
04:23They flow toward each other, but they don't collide, as if they were holograms.
04:27No splashing, no resistance.
04:30Or imagine a group of people standing in rows.
04:33This is a crystal lattice.
04:36On command, these people can pass one another without touching.
04:39But at the same time, they move in concert and retain row forms.
04:45Scientists created supersolids before using atoms of various substances, such as helium.
04:50But this time, they used a hybrid of light and matter called a polariton.
04:55They managed to do this when they combined photons with quasi-particles, called excitons.
05:01Yes, it sounds complicated, but that's not the most important part.
05:05The cool thing is that now we have a supersolid made up of light.
05:10But why do we need it?
05:13Studying supersolids allow us to better explore the quantum world.
05:17Such knowledge helps people create quantum computers, superconductors, and ultralight materials.
05:24Quantum computers allow you to do ultra-fast calculations.
05:28A superconductor can give us light and cheap electricity.
05:31And ultralight materials allow you to create simple and reliable things for space.
05:37Quantum teleportation, supermotors, and other interesting things can await us in the future, thanks to quantum physics.
05:45It all sounds cool, but what about a new kind of matter?
05:49How about half ice, half fire?
05:52More precisely, it's not a new kind, but a new state of matter that you haven't even heard of.
05:57Can ice and fire really exist at the same time, or is there something else?
06:03Let's figure it out.
06:05The inside of an ice cube is lined up in perfect order, not only because it's a solid, but also because it's frozen.
06:12Something like the supersolid we were just talking about.
06:16In contrast to ice, the electrons of a hot gas behave chaotically.
06:20So, in the half-ice, half-fire environment, some of the electrons are lined up, and the rest are in complete disarray.
06:29How is this possible?
06:31All thanks to the spins of the electrons.
06:35A spin is the direction of an electron.
06:37You can imagine an electron as a tiny compass.
06:41Spin is its arrow.
06:42For cold electrons, these arrows point strictly to one side.
06:47For hot electrons, the arrows behave as if they're inside the Bermuda Triangle, a chaotic movement up and down.
06:55So, half-ice, half-fire forces the spins of electrons to swap places.
07:01Imagine a hall where two musical groups are playing.
07:04One plays classical music.
07:06The other produces heavy metal.
07:08And then, a conductor comes and makes them switch genres.
07:12That is, the rock band starts playing classical music, and the orchestra starts playing heavy metal.
07:18Half-ice, half-fire does the same thing.
07:21Under a certain influence, the magnetic fields of the elements cause them to change places.
07:27Or imagine a class of extroverts who scream, dance, eat, and refuse to learn.
07:32The other part of the class consists of diligent students who sit at their desks and do their homework.
07:38And then, a teacher appears and makes them quickly switch roles.
07:42Extroverts sit down and begin doing their homework, while introverts are allowed to have fun.
07:48That's how half-ice, half-fire works.
07:51That is, one of the properties of this material is a sharp transition between the flame and ice.
07:56Half-ice, half-fire becomes half-fire, half-ice.
08:00It's like a switch that throws a substance from one extreme state to another.
08:04It sounds cool, but why do people need it?
08:07The answer is the same.
08:10For quantum technologies.
08:12Just think about how quickly and easily you can cool quantum processors.
08:17No more fans and no more energy wasted on them.
08:21You press the button and the processor gets cold right away.
08:24Scientists also study spintronics,
08:27a kind of technology where information is transmitted not by electricity,
08:31but by the spins of electrons.
08:33Yes, it doesn't sound clear, but this is a long story to tell.
08:38It's enough to say that this technology will improve the memory of computers,
08:41making it super fast.
08:43And cooling systems will save resources we spend on giant freezers.
08:47Half-ice, half-fire is similar to a super solid.
08:52In both of them, particles move between the states of order and chaos.
08:56It's possible that with such technologies,
08:58chaos in our lives will turn into technological order.
09:02Who knows?
09:03That's it for today.
09:07So hey, if you pacified your curiosity,
09:09then give the video a like and share it with your friends.
09:11Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the bright side.
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