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Room temperature, ambient pressure superconductivity – this time for real?
81–90 of 362 posts
Re: Room temperature, ambient pressure superconductivity – this time for real?
#82Earlier quoted context omitted.
In a week there will be a lot of thinkpieces on how the internet got this so wrong. A lot of people just want to believe, full of hope, because their life situations (poverty, housing crisis, hot weather) are so dire.
I haven’t seen this get much play outside of HN and… those are not the problems facing most HN commentators
I should say that even if it doesn't affect them personally, it creates their worldview when it is 90% of their news. Homeless crisis, war in Ukraine. Why wouldn't you want and allow some positive, apolitical, hopeful story about noble science to consume your attention instead?
Re: Room temperature, ambient pressure superconductivity – this time for real?
#83[dead]
Re: Room temperature, ambient pressure superconductivity – this time for real?
#84Earlier quoted context omitted.
It’s not a standard matrix and what do you mean by no new chemistry?
To create such a dramatic increase in critical temperature, I would expect you need a dramatic change in chemistry (as in: formula, materials,...) as well.
I mean it's not even the same basic elements. How much more of a dramatic change were you thinking?
Re: Room temperature, ambient pressure superconductivity – this time for real?
#85A source (German) attributed to the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research thinks the paper is bogus [0] [0] https://blog.fefe.de/?ts=9a3f8740
In a week there will be a lot of thinkpieces on how the internet got this so wrong. A lot of people just want to believe, full of hope, because their life situations (poverty, housing crisis, hot weather) are so dire.
What would the internet have gotten "wrong"? It's a paper and now people will try to replicate it. Some informed people give their take on why it sounds right and/or wrong, but ultimately they aren't (and can't) verify or debunk it yet pending further investigations. I have zero expertise to give an opinion either way, and honestly the impact of room temperature/pressure superconductors just doesn't seem that overwhelming. Maybe more maglev trains?
As with many things now, there are that small set of people who need to pick a "position" early and then stake a part of their ego on it. Which is super weird and destructive, and underlies many of the bad tendencies of the web.
Re: Room temperature, ambient pressure superconductivity – this time for real?
#86My issue here is: This new material is essentially standard "high temperature" YBCO superconductor material just slightly modified, or? The authors are not doing anything dramatically new, like a new chemistry. How likely is it that all the other 1000s of labs doing research on this topic just missed this lucky combination of baking, cooling and whatnot?
No, there's no YB and they propose an entirely novel mechanism for how generic metals (a whole host of possible combinations) can achieve superconductivity in these conditions. At least check out the formula or open the link. > modified lead-apatite (LK-99) structure > The superconductivity of LK-99 originates from minute structural distortion by a slight volume shrinkage (0.48 %), not by external factors such as tem…
For me, that is what I would call "just bake something together", the YBCO way.
That said, I see now that I should have made this point clearer. See below for my comment with C60. That was a truly different approach (that failed).
Re: Room temperature, ambient pressure superconductivity – this time for real?
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
Superconductors are in the name. They're ideal conductors. As a corollary, superconductors coiled into a wire, shaped like an inductor, are also ideal inductors. By ideal, I informally mean nearly perfect in a mathematical sense. A thin superconductor can carry an almost arbitrary amount of electricity with 0% loss. This is a real-world application already for superconductors, but it requires cooling the entire condu…
> an inductor made out of a superconductor, that is looped back on itself, can hold a magnetic field indefinitely, with 0% loss. Energy storage. In a way that could be used to power a car?
Conceivably, though the power density of superconducting energy storage is very low and will likely remain low. It is currently used at grid-scale to smooth out power spikes, since they can charge/discharge their full capacity almost instantly.
> SMES is also used in utility applications. In northern Wisconsin, a string of distributed SMES units were deployed to enhance stability of a transmission loop. The transmission line is subject to large, sudden load changes due to the operation of a paper mill, with the potential for uncontrolled fluctuations and voltage collapse.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superconducting_magnetic_energ...
Re: Room temperature, ambient pressure superconductivity – this time for real?
#88I am going to attempt to address the common nitpicks in one fell swoop: 1. Rushed publication, plot quality, grammar, etc. Get over yourselves. This is a pre-print for an instant-Nobel, next-tier-of-civilization level discovery. The proper publication will come in due time. Waiting for a more complete verification is a sheltered view. Being first matters. Things changed after the J/Psi discovery in 1974. For those th…
Pretty much agree on criticisms of sloppiness. First off this is a preprint. More importantly, rushing to put a stake in the ground is reasonable in this case. if they are right 'instant Nobel' is just the half of it. The authors are guaranteed a place in the scientific pantheon.
Re: Room temperature, ambient pressure superconductivity – this time for real?
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
What do you think the chances are of it being a measurement/instruments error? Edited to add: I am not a physicist. I don't know the subtleties of measuring experiments, and it was not my intention to state that there was a measurement error. I just wanted to ask someone for their assessment of the chances it was an error. It's a little depressing that people are so quick to assume the worst of others, but I get why.…
Small. Imperfect contact, unplugged terminals, etc. These are not 1st year grad students who don't know what they are doing. The authors have decades of research and fabrication experience, and publications to back it up. Comments that insinuate it could be those kind of novice mistakes (other comments on HN/reddit, not yours) are frankly insulting and speaks to a profound arrogance in being unable to accept a new di…
I apologize if I came across as insinuating it was an error, I was just asking you for your assessment of the chances it could be an error.
I'm not well versed in the subtleties of physics experiment measurement, so I figured I'd ask. It's difficult for a layperson to determine which "side" is right when battle lines are drawn after these types of announcements.
Re: Room temperature, ambient pressure superconductivity – this time for real?
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
In a week there will be a lot of thinkpieces on how the internet got this so wrong. A lot of people just want to believe, full of hope, because their life situations (poverty, housing crisis, hot weather) are so dire.
What would the internet have gotten "wrong"? It's a paper and now people will try to replicate it. Some informed people give their take on why it sounds right and/or wrong, but ultimately they aren't (and can't) verify or debunk it yet pending further investigations. I have zero expertise to give an opinion either way, and honestly the impact of room temperature/pressure superconductors just doesn't seem that overwhe…
This story deserves no more attention than the 10,000 crank papers submitted to Arxiv every day about time travel, prime numbers, antigravity. There is nothing worth replicating. That's what they got wrong.