MIT Physicists have observed eddies of electricity made by electrons interacting in a manner similar to water molecules in whirlpools, at last confirming theoreticians' longstanding predictions. 

Figure 1. Experiment - electricity behaves like water.

Figure 1 shows that “Electron vortices are expected in theory, but there’s been no direct proof, and seeing is believing,” said MIT Professor Leonid Levitov in a statement. “Now we’ve seen it, and it’s a clear signature of being in this new regime, where electrons behave as a fluid, not as individual particles.” [1]

The electricity and water are composed of discreet particles, one could assume they would behave similarly. Electrons are significantly smaller than water molecules, meaning their environment than other molecules more impacts them, but water molecules are large enough to flow together.

Now physicists have witnessed electrons swirling in whirlpools or vortices, a characteristic of fluid flow that theorists had hypothesized electrons should display but had never before been confirmed until this new study.  

Particularly, MIT scientists discovered the electron whirlpools inside the crystals of tungsten ditelluride. According to study co-author Leonid Levitov, tungsten ditelluride is one of the newest quantum materials where electrons engage intensely and behave more like quantum waves than particles.

Levitov added that the substance is extremely pure, making the fluid-like behavior readily accessible. [2]

In this material, the team etched a narrow channel with a circular chamber on either side, then ran a current through it and measured electron flow. In standard materials like gold, the electrons would always flow in the same general direction, even as they spread out into the chambers and then came back into the central channel. But in the tungsten ditelluride, the electrons swirled through the circular chambers, reversing direction and creating whirlpools.

“Electron vortices are expected in theory, but there’s been no direct proof, and seeing is believing,” said Levitov. “Now we’ve seen it, and it’s a clear signature of being in this new regime, where electrons behave as a fluid, not as individual particles.”

The team says that this confirmation of a long-standing prediction could help scientists design more efficient electrons. [3]

References:

1. https://www.iflscience.com/whirlpools-of-electricity-observed-for-the-first-time-64399
2. https://www.techtimes.com/articles/277737/20220707/electron-whirlpools-mit-physicists-discover-electricity-acting-water.htm
3. https://quicktelecast.com/scientists-witness-electricity-behaving-like-water/

Cite this article:

Sri Vasagi K (2022), Researchers Discovered Electron Whirlpools, AnaTechMaz, pp.132