Scientists discover property of matter that goes against the laws of physics

For the past 25 years, scientists at Rutgers University and MIT have been following rather unusual behavior when testing with a uranium compound. By cooling URu 2 Si 2 to near-zero temperature - -261 ° C, to be more precise - the system's molecules seem to sort out and let out a heat wave that the researchers couldn't explain where it came from.

Now, professors Piers Coleman and Premala Chandra, along with postdoctoral student Rebecca Flint, have published an article in the January 30 issue of Nature in which they attest that this behavior is due to the fact that the material is undergoing a transition phase, just as water goes through such a phase when it freezes. However, in the case of the compound, this change occurs at a quantum level and reflects a property of matter that was hitherto unknown.

Hope for new technologies

But why might this finding be relevant? Well, besides the fact that it is an unprecedented knowledge, that is, a behavior of matter that we did not know about, this kind of discovery can lead to the development of quite innovative technologies.

It was upon discovering new properties of matter that liquid crystal displays, medical imaging equipment and the most famous of these inventions came about, the MagLev train, which uses magnetism to travel at speeds greater than 500 km / h. .

For now, we can only wait to see what this news can provide us. According to Rutgers University professor Piers Coleman, it took humanity 200 years to understand classical mechanics and the meaning of energy. Meanwhile, quantum mechanics is only 100 years old and some of the ideas about it are just beginning to be discovered.