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A room-temperature superconductor? New developments

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Re: A room-temperature superconductor? New developments

#281

Post by natechols »

_yb2s wrote: post #189
elfbargpt wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Throughout this whole saga I've had this feeling that at the very least we can rely on China to really pursue this new development to it's logical end. It's kind of sad, but I don't think I can say the same about the US at this moment. You know for a fact China's going to JUMP on this, figure out if it works or not, and iterate.

I don't get the "disappointment" with USA scientists in this thread not having yet published a replication. There has only been one weekday since the LK-99 revelation came to light. Have some patience. The analysis from this article is a publication from Berkeley National Lab that has already come out, and Argonne National Lab has announced they have synthesized the material as of yesterday and will release results f…

One thing that has been constant for at least a decade or more is that every time a lab in China publishes even an incremental advance, a legion of internet commenters descends to declare the end of US hegemony because Americans didn't discover it first.

Re: A room-temperature superconductor? New developments

#282

Post by Vox_Leone »

mmh0000 wrote: post #41
anyoneamous wrote: post #30

Mostly, I am just glad that all the LK-99 posts are drowning out the "AI" news for a few days.

But fear the news if it is discovered that LK-99 increases AI performance.

Seriously speaking, it can in fact increase AI performance, since it will optimize all things electromagnetic. It takes humankind closer to the so called 'singularity'.

Re: A room-temperature superconductor? New developments

#283

Post by [deleted] »

javajosh wrote: post #198
itsarnavb wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Now I'm imagining what history would have looked like if the alchemists had indeed stumbled upon a floating lead apatite sample a few centuries ago...

Good idea! They wouldn't have been able to do any applications without a voltaic cell, and it would have been a novelty. Like gunpowder in ancient China.

[deleted]

Re: A room-temperature superconductor? New developments

#284

Post by stusmall »

deeg wrote: post #165

I'm astounded that the MSM seems to be ignoring this ATM. I did a Google news search on LK-99 and saw nothing from major publications. A search on the NYTimes returned an article from 1974.

I actually appreciate that caution. Things have been extremely up in the air and it would be very hard to properly explain what is happening, how it matters and if it matters. The last part I think is why it's a good thing that they held back. There was enough unknown that it wasn't clear if this would ever amount to anymore than "some scientists may or may not have made a big mistake." I think we are hitting the point, with multiple teams saying this is either possible or has happened, that we will start seeing MSM stories. They aren't ignoring it, they are being cautious. I promise you their science beat reporters are watching this like a hawk.

I appreciate reputable news organizations as a reliable filter against noise out there on the internet. If I want early rumors I have sites like this. If I want something filtered, curated and focused, I go to them.

Re: A room-temperature superconductor? New developments

#285

Post by AlexandrB »

tills13 wrote: post #261
martinald wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmm. Losses from HVDC transmission are on the order of 3% per 1000km, so I'm not sure how much of a big deal it'd be for that kind of use case. Your example would only save ~6% transmission losses. An improvement yes but not really a big deal, unless the cables were far cheaper to make than current HVDC cables (which I'm doubtful about). I think there are other use cases within devices themselves that are far more in…

ok but 3% when you're talking about MWs or GWs of power is still a lot of wasted energy.

Whether it's worth doing also depends on how much energy it would take to make thousands of miles of superconducting cable of similar capacity and how long such a cable would last.

Re: A room-temperature superconductor? New developments

#286

Post by joefigura »

deeg wrote: post #165

I'm astounded that the MSM seems to be ignoring this ATM. I did a Google news search on LK-99 and saw nothing from major publications. A search on the NYTimes returned an article from 1974.

Well, half the comments are making fun of the spotty quality of the evidence and it's been barely a week since the paper was published. I think it's reasonable to wait for at least a pre-print of a successful replication. I don't think it's fair to say the MSM is ignoring it, the possible discovery literally just happened and some combination of low awareness and caution with the evidence means they haven't covered it yet.

Re: A room-temperature superconductor? New developments

#287

Post by slashdev »

tills13 wrote: post #261
martinald wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmm. Losses from HVDC transmission are on the order of 3% per 1000km, so I'm not sure how much of a big deal it'd be for that kind of use case. Your example would only save ~6% transmission losses. An improvement yes but not really a big deal, unless the cables were far cheaper to make than current HVDC cables (which I'm doubtful about). I think there are other use cases within devices themselves that are far more in…

ok but 3% when you're talking about MWs or GWs of power is still a lot of wasted energy.

Not as much as is wasted in generation and transforming, both of which would benefit from superconductors.

The benefit might lie less in the wires and more in the equipment.

Tough to say with a trans Atlantic cable though. Those kinds of distances have never been tried to my knowledge.

Re: A room-temperature superconductor? New developments

#288

Post by marshray »

dclowd9901 wrote: post #226
kijin wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It certainly doesn't hurt that this thing levitates . No need to squint into a microscope, parse a screen full of numbers, or try to make sense of false-color renderings. Either you have video proof of a levitating object, or you don't. The demonstration is as intuitive as it gets, despite the fact that the theory is crazy difficult to wrap one's head around.

Levitates? Against, what, the earth's inherent magnetic field? Sorry, I haven't seen any visuals that show this behavior.

Over a handheld neodymium magnet.

None of the videos have yet shown complete 'levitation', they all have a corner on the surface. But still, not behavior that anyone has ever seen from lead before.

Re: A room-temperature superconductor? New developments

#289

Post by brucethemoose2 »

deeg wrote: post #165

I'm astounded that the MSM seems to be ignoring this ATM. I did a Google news search on LK-99 and saw nothing from major publications. A search on the NYTimes returned an article from 1974.

Most people I talk to don't recognize the importance of room temperature superconductivity.

A floating grain is cool, but not something that jumps out at people like a rocket or a big fusion reactor.

The application is similarly unintuitive. Many here on HN ask why such a thing would be important, and they are probably the 99th (or 99.9th?) percentile in materials science and EE literacy.

Re: A room-temperature superconductor? New developments

#290

Post by adamsb6 »

declan_roberts wrote: post #180
deeg wrote: post #165

I'm astounded that the MSM seems to be ignoring this ATM. I did a Google news search on LK-99 and saw nothing from major publications. A search on the NYTimes returned an article from 1974.

I think them waiting until there’s more research is preferable to them coming out and making random claims which pan out not to be true.

Wait wait wait... Are eggs healthy again?
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