A Room-Temperature Superconductor? New Developments

Re:A Room-Temperature Superconductor? New Developments by hinkley on Tuesday August 01, 2023 @01:41PM (#36959499)

I saw a video the other day that pointed out that the breakdown current for their sample was 260 mA. Now there's a lot of things you can do with 260mA, but I don't believe high-tesla electromagnets are in that list, so no MRIs, no fusion, and probably no electromotive devices (generators, motors).

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Re:A Room-Temperature Superconductor? New Developments by codeulike on Tuesday August 01, 2023 @01:47PM (#36959591)

But now we know its possible, maybe they can figure out the structures that make it work and develop better materials?

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Re:A Room-Temperature Superconductor? New Developments by asynchronous on Tuesday August 01, 2023 @02:10PM (#36959971)

Personally hopeful it inspires a “gold rush” of funding materials research to get LK99 to a supremely useful spot

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Re:A Room-Temperature Superconductor? New Developments by hinkley on Tuesday August 01, 2023 @01:50PM (#36959651)

I'm hoping for something that isn't made entirely out of a superfund site material, personally.

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Re:A Room-Temperature Superconductor? New Developments by ipdashc on Tuesday August 01, 2023 @02:04PM (#36959874)

Unless I misunderstand what you mean / what the stuff is made of, this seems like a huge exaggeration... lead isn't friendly, sure, but it isn't that dangerous? There are worse materials that are in common use. (And we use lead in plenty of places already)

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Re:A Room-Temperature Superconductor? New Developments by elteto on Tuesday August 01, 2023 @02:19PM (#36960120)

It took 80 years to go from a crude prototype at Bell Labs to Apple announcing the M1. We just need to know it’s possible. The rest will follow.

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Re:A Room-Temperature Superconductor? New Developments by greggsy on Tuesday August 01, 2023 @02:55PM (#36960710)

The M1 is just as significant as an ESP32 or Celeron in the scheme of things.

Isn’t the introduction of the 4004 in 1971 a better comparison? while that was still 24 years since the Bell labs discovery, we have much better scientific, manufacturing, logistical and mining ecosystems within industry and research today.

If there’s a compelling reason to do so, governments will find ways to accelerate the development of those ecosystems from decades to years (probably more like a decade).

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Re:A Room-Temperature Superconductor? New Developments by andrepd on Tuesday August 01, 2023 @04:15PM (#36962073)

I don't get it, is the M1 supposed to be some pinnacle achievement in the history of the integrated circuit lmao

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Re:A Room-Temperature Superconductor? New Developments by amluto on Tuesday August 01, 2023 @02:56PM (#36960738)

The effective cross-sectional area of the original sample could well be minuscule. (I assume that, if a room temperature superconductor has been found, it constitutes a tiny fraction of the sample.)

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Re:A Room-Temperature Superconductor? New Developments by titzer on Tuesday August 01, 2023 @02:58PM (#36960766)

The current is related to the cross-sectional area of the (super)conductor. Not sure how big their sample was, but the solution is thicker and more cables.

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Re:A Room-Temperature Superconductor? New Developments by jagrsw on Tuesday August 01, 2023 @03:28PM (#36961314)

I don't know much about superconductivity, but if 0.25A is the limit no matter the cross-section of conductor, you can multiply/parallelize the conductors - i.e. series of "microconductors", each carrying 0.25A, which would add up to whatever you want?

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Re:A Room-Temperature Superconductor? New Developments by baq on Tuesday August 01, 2023 @04:30PM (#36962304)

I assure you if 260mA room temperature and pressure superconducting wire can be consistently produced we’ll be living in the future.

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Re:A Room-Temperature Superconductor? New Developments by MayeulC on Tuesday August 01, 2023 @05:14PM (#36963058)

> we’ll be living in the future

This is a tautological statement if I ever saw one!

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Re:A Room-Temperature Superconductor? New Developments by baq on Tuesday August 01, 2023 @05:45PM (#36963536)

Let me explain what I meant: the transistor changed everything and we’re still reaping unexpected benefits, see LLMs this year. My bet is such a superconductor would be the same - 50 years from its creation we’d still be finding new ways of putting it to use.

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