Quantum effects of gas flow in nanochannels

Abstract

Abstract Based on the thermal theory of Newtonian mechanics, the pressure difference in the macro channels will drive the gas flow until the pressure difference inside is zero. However, the 12-year vacuum packaging experiments in our laboratory showed that when the macroscopic channel is reduced to a critical size and reaches the nanometer level, the gas flow inside the channel is hindered, that is, the differential pressure cannot become zero. To explain this paradoxical phenomenon, this study analyzes the flow of air molecules in the channel by using the De Broglie’s matter waves and Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle. Based on the law of quantum mechanics, when the diameter of the nanochannel is reduced to a certain size, it has a localized high pressure in the channel, which impedes the gas flow. This article introduces quantum mechanics into nanochannel’s gas fluid dynamics for the first time, expanding the new direction of fluid mechanics.