Against all logic and experience , heat can , under rare status , menstruate from moth-eaten field to warmer single . When the phenomenon was first discovered , it was recollect restricted to extremist - pure cloth close to absolute zero . Now it has been observed in an everyday material at easily duplicate temperatures .
Heat is the random movement of mote , and in quartz is normally transfer in mail boat know as phonons . When part of a lechatelierite becomes raging , the phonons dissipate through the latticework until the temperature evens out . If another part of the quartz momentarily becomes hotter , free energy would backscatter to the source .
In a phenomenon have it off as “ 2d phone ” however , the heat go through material like sound waves – which under the right circumstances can be focused to be louder elsewhere than at the source . The heat acts as if it has momentum , and follows the Bose - Einstein equations sop up up to distinguish gonzo behavior normally only experience in the subatomic world where quantum mechanics reigns , or insuper - moth-eaten fluid .
Second sound has been observed in exotic , arrant materials at temperatures below 20 Kelvin ( -253ºC , -423ºF ) . The observation of second intelligent behaviour in graphite at 120 K ( -153ºC -243ºF ) shifting it from a curio to something with potentially worthful app . Although still far frigid than natural temperatures anywhere on Earth , this temperature is above fluent atomic number 7 freeze point , make it reachable in a high school laboratory . Graphite , famously used in " lead " pencils , is also easy available , although the experiment used the purest commercially available course .
After modeling of phonon interaction in graphite suggested 2nd sound should occur up to 120 K , Professor Keith Nelsonof MIT decided to test it through an experiment . InScience , he reports observe heat flowing from coolheaded area to warm ones in a 10 mm2(0.016 square inch ) block of plumbago heated with lasers .
The team observed this behavior in great detail at 85 K , then again at 125 K , only seeing it disappear at 150 K. Intriguingly , signs of second speech sound were also lost when temperature were lowered below 50 G , and while the experimental resultant role matched the model well from 80 - 120 K , results depart from expectations below 80 K. They wait the 2d speech sound “ windowpane ” will diverge depending on the black lead ’s isotopic pureness and blemish .
Nelson anticipate major applications if , as he anticipate , he can copy the results at even higher temperatures ingraphene , sheets of graphite a single atom thick .
" There ’s a vast push to make things smaller and denser for devices like our computers and electronics , and thermic management becomes more difficult at these musical scale , " Nelson said in astatement . If Nelson ’s hunch holds up , graphene could be the everlasting material to remove passion from overheat microscopical computers .
