What if the team itself did create LK-99 that is a superconductor, but they aren't able to reproduce it and only have the sample left that works. Hence, they aren't able to make more of it to prove their success, but rather decided to release the paper and method so that others can try to reproduce it. Given the amount of interest, they could put hundreds of labs to work trying to recreate what they themselves can't,…
I think it's unlikely in this case. They seem to have gone out of their way to show a method that can achieve replication using very common materials and pretty much medieval-grade technology (except for the vacuum pump, maybe).
A 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
Interesting that the video of levitation isn't mentioned at all in this rebuttal.
Assuming the scientists acted in good faith and this isn't a complete scam, maybe we found something else that doesn't conform to our current understanding of superconductors, but does levitate over a magnetic field at ambient temp/pressure.
Does this mean there would be no heat waste? And devices like phones and computers wouldn't get hot?
Computers would still get hot, because the main cause of heat is not resistance in wires, it's that when a transistor switches with charge in the gate, you need to dump that charge, and when you do this it turns to heat. They would get less hot, because there are plenty of transmission losses too.
People were arguing about this earlier (some claimimg the opposite) but I didn't see a conclusion. Do you have an external citation handy?
What if the team itself did create LK-99 that is a superconductor, but they aren't able to reproduce it and only have the sample left that works. Hence, they aren't able to make more of it to prove their success, but rather decided to release the paper and method so that others can try to reproduce it. Given the amount of interest, they could put hundreds of labs to work trying to recreate what they themselves can't,…
They would just say that in the paper. The effect would be the same: half the labs in the world falling over themselves to reproduce first.
Ok, but if they said as much why then would people shift resources to try and 'rediscover' something that may take years? Not saying it, means people will pursue the fabrication more readily.
I heard your point nonetheless. It was just a question I asked in the larger thread and wanted more input. Thanks.
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…
It depends on the quench current, but yeah, maglev, hoverboards, much cheaper MRI machines, less reliance on the diminishing helium reserves, lower cost experimental fusion reactors and particle accelerators too. That last could lead to progress speeding up in that research as more people can try stuff. Lower cost for power transmission would make renewables that are geographically limited more usable. Also coil and rail guns would probably proliferate... If the quench current is high enough you could see handguns that charge on usb-c and are not legally firearms in any nation I'm aware of. Quite a disruptor.
We haven't had "the beginning of AGI" and there is no reason cheaper electricity would "destabilize society".
I agree on AGI, but a massive step function shift in energy will certainly destabilize society. The livelihoods of at least a hundred million people depends on fossil fuels.
A 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
Interesting that the video of levitation isn't mentioned at all in this rebuttal. Assuming the scientists acted in good faith and this isn't a complete scam, maybe we found something else that doesn't conform to our current understanding of superconductors, but does levitate over a magnetic field at ambient temp/pressure.
One response to the levitation video is that it is hard to distinguish from a non-superconductive diamagnetic effect, which can occur even in not very exotic materials.
There are videos of graphite levitating that are circulating, for example.
Does this mean there would be no heat waste? And devices like phones and computers wouldn't get hot?
It is my understanding that computers would still need to somehow dissipate energy when they perform irreversible computations, and that will turn into heat. E.g. when you compute the AND of two bits, then the result is only one bit and you have to dispose of the remaining bit either as heat or as a garbage output signal.
That's a thermodynamic limit, but we're not even close to hitting that yet.
RTP superconductors still aren't going to magically make computers emit zero heat, though; there are other sources besides resistive losses. I was under the impression that other factors dominated, though a couple people responded yesterday to tell me that resistance is the primary source of heat. Not an expert in that area, would love for someone who does chipset design to clarify.
A 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
Pretty sure I read this comment somewhere else (not attributed to Max Planck Institute), I think it was a guy on reddit. Maybe they are the same but could be just copy paste from Reddit.
Just for fun: Am I the only one who thinks there's connection between this and the UAP news that's coming out? RTSC would probably enable a lot of incredible energy & maneuverability capabilities... Sorry, indulging in a little off-topic conspiracy theorizing.
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Finally those "has science gone too far" memes can be trendy again.