Absolute Zero – and the conquest of cold (book review)
Title :- Absolute Zero – and the conquest of cold
By :- Tom Shachtman
Published :- Mariner Books, New York (2000) Paperback (250 pages).
Outline :- The concept of cold rely started to be noticed when food had to be delivered to cities using first ice. Lower temperatures could be created using the gas of one element through a nozzle to cool down the next lowest element on the table of elements. This became a competition between researchers. Finally Helium was used to produce liquid Hydrogen and so achieve a few degrees above absolute zero. Superconductivity was found at around 4.1 degrees Kelvin, and later also recognized was no viscosity and no inner magnetic field. It was about 100 years since Kelvin started this drive to absolute zero. Later in the 20th centenary the use of super magnets were able to get to within a billionth of absolute zero, where the nature of the atom itself seems to go beyond quantum mechanics.
The lives and tales of the scientists along the way is a path of our history. The scientific endeavor to reach absolute zero changed our understanding of matter altogether.