The science of the future - Cryogenics

                                                                                         

The development of science and technology has lead to a new, innovative
domain of research, with applications in engineering, manufacturing,
food, and many more - cryogenics.

Cryogenics deals with the study of extremely low temperatures, and how
products and materials behave at these temperatures.
Cryogenics shouldn't be confused with cryobiology, which studies the
behavior of organisms at low temperatures, or cryonics, which deals with
the freezing of clinically dead patients until cures for their diseases
are found.

The temperatures under which the studies begin are mostly those below
-150° C, a temperatures which draws the line between the boiling points
of gases and common refrigerants.
The most common liquefied gases used in cryogenics are liquid helium
and nitrogen, which have boiling points situated much under -150° C, and
which are kept in special containers.

It may be said that the study cryogenics began a little before 1945,
when Michael Faraday managed to reach the temperature of -110° C, by
using a mixture of solid carbon dioxide mixed with ether.
In 1894, the first liquid-air plant was founded, and then cryogenics
quickly developed. Soon, the most difficult to liquify gases, hydrogen
and helium, were liquefied.

The applications of cryogenics soon appeared. During the 2nd World War
it was discovered that previously frozen metals had a higher
resistance, and so the cryogenic hardening appeared, which can help increase the
life of tools with up to 400% of their original lives. These
technologies are still in research.

Another interesting fact is that the electric resistance of the metal
conductors rapidly decreases at low temperatures, giving them the
ability to 'hold' the electric current for several hours, becoming
superconductors. These applications of cryogenics are studied under the name of
cryoelectronics.

NASA is also using cryogenics to build cryogenic fuels - rocket fuels,
for their shuttles.

However, we still have much to learn and study in this impredictable
domain, where materials act in such strange ways when frozen (rubber
becomes like glass), and only time will tell what the future will bring.

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