• Question: what is the coldest element that you have worked with

    Asked by Llama to Steven on 15 Jun 2015. This question was also asked by 209frcc28.
    • Photo: Steven Thomson

      Steven Thomson answered on 15 Jun 2015:

      I don’t do a lot of lab work, but the coldest thing I’ve personally worked with was a laser cooling setup where we cooled rubidium atoms down to a millionth of a degree above absolute zero (-273C).

      More commonly, I’ve done a lot of demonstrations with liquid nitrogen (-196C) and a little lab work with liquid helium (-269C). I don’t get to use the helium much though – liquid helium is one of the most expensive liquids in the world!

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