Wikipedia: History of Absolute zero/Talk

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Check the NIST website [[1]] to be sure, but I believe the reason it is considered a gas and not a solid is that the sample consists of a very small number of atoms (on the order of ten or less) under high vacuum. In order for condensation to occur the atoms must collide and at these conditions collisions are fairly rare. In other words condensation is kinetically limited. Under some conditions, the scientists were able to observe formation of a Bose-Einstein condensate, so some form of condensation does occur. -- Matt Stoker

Check the NIST website [1] to be sure, but I believe the reason it is considered a gas and not a solid is that the sample consists of a very small number of atoms (on the order of ten or less) under high vacuum. In order for condensation to occur the atoms must collide and stick together. Under the experimental conditions collisions are fairly rare, so condensation takes a long time. In other words condensation is kinetically limited. Under some conditions, the scientists were able to observe formation of a Bose-Einstein condensate, so some form of condensation does occur. -- Matt Stoker

	Revision 8 . . October 30, 2001 10:41 am by (logged).189.40.xxx
	Revision 7 . . October 30, 2001 10:39 am by (logged).189.40.xxx [Gases at <1mK]
	Revision 6 . . October 27, 2001 12:41 pm by (logged).123.179.xxx