Hence allowing them to peculate through the larger atoms of the container, which would not have been possible if they were vibrating with thermal energy.
Is super fluidity is seen in elements with larger atomic radii? If not, could the above thought be one of the logical reasons for it?
No: superfluidity is a quantum phenomenon, caused by the fact that the quantum uncertainty relation makes it impossible for an atom in a cage of other atoms to be perfectly at rest.
Indeed, define the thermal length lambda at a temperature T to be such that, if a particle is confined to a volume of size lambda, its zero-point energy due to quantum mechanics will be of the order of the thermal energy kT (k Boltzmann's constant). Then superfluidity arises when lambda is smaller than the interparticle spacing.
A simple model which has some similarity with superfluidity is Bose-Einstein condensation, about which you can read in many textbooks.
No: superfluidity is a quantum phenomenon, caused by the fact that the quantum uncertainty relation makes it impossible for an atom in a cage of other atoms to be perfectly at rest.
Indeed, define the thermal length lambda at a temperature T to be such that, if a particle is confined to a volume of size lambda, its zero-point energy due to quantum mechanics will be of the order of the thermal energy kT (k Boltzmann's constant). Then superfluidity arises when lambda is smaller than the interparticle spacing.
A simple model which has some similarity with superfluidity is Bose-Einstein condensation, about which you can read in many textbooks.
"the atoms of liquid near 0 Kelvin reach a perfect state of motionlessness?
Hence allowing them to peculate through the larger atoms of the container, which would not have been possible if they were vibrating with thermal energy."
Very well put. You can model this by binding the electrons together by a very small force and letting groups of them flow without hitting anything. The motionlessness of the underlying structure is what is important.
No better explanation then from the expert himself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFdq6IecUJc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFdq6IecUJc
Dear Vasuki,
Going to the Einstein's formula for reaching the superfluid phase in a material which can be bosonized in its fundamental state
It is immediate to see that as the mass m of the atom increase this means that the critical temperature Tc decrease and therefore it is much difficult to find such a phase. This is the reason which answers your question related with the radius of the atoms presenting this phase
Tc = 3.3125ħ2 n 2/3 / m kB
where: Tc is the critical temperature of condensation, n is the particle density, m is the mass per boson, and h bar the Planck constant.
Respect to the question of motionlessness of the atoms, I don't know if there is a mistake in your question or I have understood it badly. The atoms are not fixed or without motion at all, in fact due to the Heisenberg incertity principle they need to be not localized because they belong to the same state with well defined momentum.
I hope this helps.
Dear F. Leyvraz, I agree with your fist paragraph that atoms cannot be completely at rest. "Then superfluidity arises when lambda is smaller than the interparticle spacing". Doesn't that reinforce my point?
Dear Daniel Baldomir, thanks for the clarification, it did address my question about point as to why larger atoms don't exhibit this behavior.
I completely ignored the fact of atoms having ground state vibrations, however I can still modify my question to " Is superfluidity caused due to the reason that, the atoms of liquid near 0 Kelvin reach a near (keeping mind the Heisenberg's uncertainty principle) perfect state of motionlessness?Hence allowing them to peculate through the larger atoms of the container.
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