Abstract
After a proposal to use capillarity and Van der Waals forces in aerogel to prevent superfluid helium motion in space missions that carry sensitive gradiometers, we have investigated the behaviour of superfluid helium when only partially filling an aerogel sample. We discuss here the effect of gravity on He II distribution in aerogel. We present a way to investigate it, based on measurements of the tortuosity of liquid–vapour interface and the adsorption isotherm, together with the results of an experiment performed by means of a torsion pendulum. The observed high tortuosity of the liquid–vapour interface for pressure values below saturation, shows that He II in aerogel assumes a configuration where capillary forces are indeed able to bar even the liquid motion driven by 1-g gravity.
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Dolesi, R., Bonaldi, M. & Vitale, S. Helium II Confinement with Aerogel. Journal of Low Temperature Physics 118, 219–234 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1004699108187
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1004699108187