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A room-temperature superconductor? New developments

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Re: A room-temperature superconductor? New developments

#451

Post by derefr »

postmodest wrote: post #442
derefr wrote: post #432

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Resistance is what makes things hot, and heat is what makes dumping huge amounts of charge current into batteries a bad idea. No resistance → no heat → no need to charge with low current†. Another way to say it is that, with a superconducting wire, you can make the wire as thin as you want and still pass the same amount of current through it, without melting the wire. Picture using a USB-C cable to charge your car. †…

Wouldn't the battery itself still have resistance? Or is the superconducting material itself a battery?

Depends. A single battery cell would have nontrivial resistance, yes.

But a big bank of batteries, like are in an EV? Very hard to give them enough current to heat them up. Most of the "heat problem" is from the bottlenecked current path into the car; once you fan out across all the individual cells, each individual cell isn't receiving much current.

And a bank of supercapacitors? You could charge it effectively instantly.

Re: A room-temperature superconductor? New developments

#453

Post by derefr »

armarr wrote: post #446
derefr wrote: post #432

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Resistance is what makes things hot, and heat is what makes dumping huge amounts of charge current into batteries a bad idea. No resistance → no heat → no need to charge with low current†. Another way to say it is that, with a superconducting wire, you can make the wire as thin as you want and still pass the same amount of current through it, without melting the wire. Picture using a USB-C cable to charge your car. †…

Sure, it would make the wiring smaller and more efficient. But I also don't see how it would help in the chemical energy transfer to charge the battery.

What I was trying to say is, with some battery chemistries, the current (heh) limiting step for charging speed is the wiring into, and of, the battery, rather than the safe reaction speed of the battery chemistry itself. We could safely "crank the chemistry" by an order-of-magnitude or more if we could get the desired current into the battery without the wires+electrodes conducting undue amounts of heat into the electrolyte.

Re: A room-temperature superconductor? New developments

#454

Post by [deleted] »

throwawaymaths wrote: post #175
jvm___ wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AI has already taken over the internet and is just feeding us news stories based on what it already knows. Super conductor discovered by a team who's been searching for 20 years. Internal conflict 'proves' there's something to argue over. Low quality, confusing information that's hard to decipher, but kind of makes sense. Asian language information streams and videos. Musk buys twitter. A submarine visited the titani…

If you want a tinfoil hat, consider that the LK-99 news dropped around the time that the US military is being exposed for having RTRPS tech flying around for decades

[deleted]

Re: A room-temperature superconductor? New developments

#455

Post by baq »

hinkley wrote: post #153
SanderNL wrote: post #21

This is exciting, but I try to maintain my composure. Good luck to all involved. I didn’t know science could be such a thrilling spectator sport.

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).

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

Re: A room-temperature superconductor? New developments

#456

Post by arugulum »

ASalazarMX wrote: post #305
javajosh wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The force of tradition is amazing. Imagine centuries knowing how to make something that explodes violently, and using it for entertainment instead of weapons. Just like how Mesoamerican civilizations invented the wheel, but only used it on children toys and not for transportation. There were no draft animals in the region, but they didn't even make wheelbarrows. https://www.mexicolore.co.uk/aztecs/home/the-concept-of…

Another example that I read about once and have never been able to verify (or it may be completely made up) is that the because the Chinese invented porcelain first (which was more sturdy than glass or something) they never bothered with glass, which meant they missed out on all the cool astronomical discoveries (which then has implications on their development of mathematics and physics).

Again, no idea if there is any validity to this or just something completely made up.

Re: A room-temperature superconductor? New developments

#457

Post by eesmith »

kijin wrote: post #76
SanderNL wrote: post #21

This is exciting, but I try to maintain my composure. Good luck to all involved. I didn’t know science could be such a thrilling spectator sport.

It almost feels like we're back in the days of Lavoisier. Scientists staging elaborate public experiments, blowing things up to support or debunk a popular theory. Deadly rivalries, publicity stunts, each new development a matter of personal, institutional, and national hubris.

It reminds me of the days of cold fusion. Or the days of buckminsterfullerene.

Basically, something which is very unexpected, with potentially large consequences, and which can be done in many labs using discretionary funding.

Re: A room-temperature superconductor? New developments

#458

Post by mike00632 »

arcticfox wrote: post #239
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 am also completely baffled by this! So many stupid mouse-model medical discovery stories over the years and actually zero LK-99 coverage. It doesn't even matter if it works or not as for whether it's newsworthy; the mystery, human backstory, and Argonne/China/independent scientists jumping to replicate alone is a whole swathe of viable and fascinating topics ready to be published. The crazy thing is NYT just bother…

What should the headline be? "South Korean scientists claim room temperature superconductivity again! Are they lying like their last paper? Let's celebrate!"

Re: A room-temperature superconductor? New developments

#459

Post by jychang »

baq wrote: post #444
klysm wrote: post #422

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Batteries that don't take any time to recharge Huh? Is this actually a thing that this enables? I don't initially see how

It’s a zero resistance wire. Build a loop and pump electrons in. Need them back? Connect an off-ramp. There are limits how much you can pump into it, it isn’t magic… but it almost is actually. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superconducting_magnetic_ene...

> Less than 40kJ/L
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