The notion of absolute zero has been around for quite some time. Lowering the temperatures of a molecule as close to zero as possible could reveal some wacky physics that could reveal some properties on exotic states of matter. Now, a team at MIT led by physicist Martin Zwierlein, was able to cool down sodium potassium gas using a process involving lasers to dissipate the energy of individual gas molecules. They succeeded in chilling the molecules as low as 500 nanokelvins, which equates to -459.67˚F. This is interesting because sodium and potassium don’t usually form compounds since both are positively charged and would typically repel each other. Although they achieved the formation of this compound, it wasn’t as stable as an everyday chemical. It only lasted 2.5 seconds before it broke apart, but when dealing with such extreme conditions that is a very long time. This may not seem like a great advancement, but it could shed some light on mysteries such as dark energy, the mysterious substance that is apparently pulling our universe apart.
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