Bose Einstein Condensate - www.Ramana.com

By Ramana Annamraju MedBricks

Solid, Liquid, Gas, and Plasma are four states of matter that we are all familiar with. There is another state of matter, peculiar of peculiars, that is called "Bose-Einstein Condensate" ( BEC). This state is as strange as the name sounds.BEC can put sudden breaks on light rays traveling at speeds of186,000 miles/second,. BEC can bring light rays to an almost grinding halt.BEC allows a rare spectacle to witness a quantum phenomenon on a macroscopic scale. One example is the same object could be in two places same time, which is a quantum phenomenon..In BEC, individual particles lose identity and behave like the waving in football games.

BEC is a relatively new field of research but is expected to come out with mind-boggling applications in medicine and computer science. The largest organ in the body is the endothelium, an organ wrapping around all other organs. Endothelium functions are not well understood because of the effect of gravity. Scientists are studying endothelium's structure and functions immersed in BEC at the International space station. In zero gravity, endothelium cells take three-dimensional form. That is easier to investigate. Another medical application is pinpointing the locations of the few cells causing epilepsy in the brain. Magenotoencyphelograph is a medical device that uses BEC as the medium to detect feeble effects of magnetic radiation in the brain.

The real rock star who envisioned this phenomenon was Indian-born Mathematician Satyendra Nath Bose. He created an entire branch of mathematics and Albert Einstein called Bose-Einstein Statistics. Bose worked with several eminent scientists like Marie Curie, DeBroglie, Niels Bohr, and Albert Einstein. BEC was experimentally realized 75 years after Bose's prediction. Another legendary scientist Paul Dirac gave the name "Bosons" to special particles who lost their individual identity in honor of Satyendra Nath Bose. His name is even more memorialized with God's particle called 'Higgs Boson'. It is a tribute to the human mind, how well scientific thought and curiosity can benefit humanity long after their passing. Please watch the video I made it a while ago. Still good.