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Viscosity of Liquid Helium below the λ-Point

THE abnormally high heat conductivity of helium II below the λ-point, as first observed by Keesom, suggested to me the possibility of an explanation in terms of convection currents. This explanation would require helium II to have an abnormally low viscosity; at present, the only viscosity measurements on liquid helium have been made in Toronto1, and showed that there is a drop in viscosity below the λ-point by a factor of 3 compared with liquid helium at normal pressure, and by a factor of 8 compared with the value just above the λ-point. In these experiments, however, no check was made to ensure that the motion was laminar, and not turbulent.

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References

  1. Burton, NATURE, 135, 265 (1935); Wilhelm, Misener and Clark, Proc. Roy. Soc., A, 151, 342 (1935).

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  2. NATURE, 140, 62 (1937).

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Kapitza, P. Viscosity of Liquid Helium below the λ-Point. Nature 141, 74 (1938). https://doi.org/10.1038/141074a0

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