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What is the coldest thing in the world? - Lina Marieth Hoyos

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The coldest materials in the world aren’t in Antarctica or at the top of Mount Everest. They’re in physics labs: clouds of gases held just fractions of a degree above absolute zero. Lina Marieth Hoyos explains how temperatures this low give scientists a window into the inner workings of matter, and allow engineers to build incredibly sensitive instruments that tell us more about the universe.


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About TED-Ed Animations

TED-Ed Animations feature the words and ideas of educators brought to life by professional animators. Are you an educator or animator interested in creating a TED-Ed Animation? Nominate yourself here »

Meet The Creators

  • Educator Lina Marieth Hoyos
  • Director Jelena Oroz
  • Narrator Pen-Pen Chen
  • Animator Jelena Oroz
  • Designer Jelena Oroz
  • Character Designer Jelena Oroz
  • Producer Draško Ivezić
  • Content Producer Gerta Xhelo
  • Editorial Producer Alex Rosenthal
  • Associate Producer Bethany Cutmore-Scott, Elizabeth Cox
  • Script Editor Eleanor Nelsen
  • Fact-Checker Brian Gutierrez
Additional Resources for you to Explore
The three scientists who developed the methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1997. To learn more about them, click here.

You can find an explanation of how scientists achieved the technique to cool atoms with lasers here. To learn even more about laser cooling, visit this site.

Want to see some pictures of a real-life magneto-optical trap and a cloud of trapped atoms? Click here.

A more detailed video explanation of the Bose-Einstein condensate, including how to create one—and why it could be important to create one in outer space—can be found here.

Customize this lesson

Create and share a new lesson based on this one.

About TED-Ed Animations

TED-Ed Animations feature the words and ideas of educators brought to life by professional animators. Are you an educator or animator interested in creating a TED-Ed Animation? Nominate yourself here »

Meet The Creators

  • Educator Lina Marieth Hoyos
  • Director Jelena Oroz
  • Narrator Pen-Pen Chen
  • Animator Jelena Oroz
  • Designer Jelena Oroz
  • Character Designer Jelena Oroz
  • Producer Draško Ivezić
  • Content Producer Gerta Xhelo
  • Editorial Producer Alex Rosenthal
  • Associate Producer Bethany Cutmore-Scott, Elizabeth Cox
  • Script Editor Eleanor Nelsen
  • Fact-Checker Brian Gutierrez

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