page_title: Inviscid flow
section_title: Applications
hierarchical_section_title: Inviscid flow / Superfluids / Applications
caption_attribution_description: Large Hadron Collider dipole magnets.
context_page_description: Inviscid flow is the flow of an inviscid fluid, in which the viscosity of the fluid is equal to zero. Though there are limited examples of inviscid fluids, known as superfluids, inviscid flow has many applications in fluid dynamics. The Reynolds number of inviscid flow approaches infinity as the viscosity approaches zero. When viscous forces are neglected, such as the case of inviscid flow, the Navier-Stokes equation can be simplified to a form known as the Euler equation. This simplified equation is applicable to inviscid flow as well as flow with low viscosity and a Reynolds number much greater than one. Using the Euler equation, many fluid dynamics problems involving low viscosity are easily solved, however, the assumed negligible viscosity is no longer valid in the region of fluid near a solid boundary.
  The fluid itself need not have zero viscosity for inviscid flow to occur. It is also possible to arrange the flow of a viscous fluid so that viscous forces vanish. Such a flow has no viscous resistance to its motion. These "inviscid flow arrangements" are vortex-like and may play a key role in the formation of the tornado, the tropical cyclone, and turbulence.
context_section_description: Spectrometers are kept at a very low temperature using helium as the coolant. This allows for minimal background flux in far-infrared readings. Some of the designs for the spectrometers may be simple, but even the frame is at its warmest less than 20 Kelvin.  These devices are not commonly used as it is very expensive to use superfluid helium over other coolants.
  Superfluid helium has a very high thermal conductivity, which makes it very useful for cooling superconductors. Superconductors such as the ones used at the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) are cooled to temperatures of approximately 1.9 Kelvin. This temperature allows the niobium-titanium magnets to reach a superconductor state. Without the use of the superfluid helium, this temperature would not be possible. Cooling to these temperatures, with this fluid, is a very expensive system and there are few compared to other cooling systems.
  Another application of the superfluid helium is its uses in understanding quantum mechanics. Using lasers to look at small droplets allows scientists to view behaviors that may not normally be viewable. This is due to all the helium in each droplet being at the same quantum state. This application does not have any practical uses by itself, but it helps us better understand quantum mechanics which has its own applications.
caption: Large Hadron Collider
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