We finally have a working super-solid

A group of physicists have made the most sophisticated super-solid yet: one that exists in two-dimensions, like a sheet of paper.

A super-solid contains at its base, properties of two different states of matter, one mundane and another quite esoteric.

The first of those states is a solid, which is among the most mundane forms of matter. Importantly, to physicists, a solid is interesting because the atoms inside are held in a rigid structure.

But the second is a state of matter: a super-fluid. A quirk of quantum mechanics, a superfluid is a substance that acts like a fluid with zero viscosity.

Scientists have caught glimpses of super-fluids by cooling elements such as Rubidium and Lanthanum. When they trap a small number of gaseous atoms and chill them down to fractions of a degree above absolute zero (at around -273º C), they condense into a whole suite of quantum weirdness.

A super-solid combines both a solid and a super-fluid into one package: a solid that flows like a fluid with no friction, no resistance. If that sounds strange, it’s all perfectly natural. It’s simply a product of quantum mechanics, the peculiar sort of physics that governs the cosmos at the very smallest scales.