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A room-temperature superconductor? New developments

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Re: A room-temperature superconductor? New developments

#561

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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!"

"Potential superconductor breakthrough sends national labs scrambling"

Re: A room-temperature superconductor? New developments

#562
post #516

Earlier quoted context omitted.

None of the things you listed are limited by the conductors in them. The efficiency of high voltage AC power lines is limited by capacitive coupling to ground. Battery charging is limited by the cell chemistry. CPU heat output is limited by the resistance of the semiconductors. Turns out metals (in particular copper) are already incredibly good conductors.

> CPU heat output is limited by the resistance of the semiconductors. Can't superconductor help here?

Superconducting semiconductors? I doubt such a thing is possible.

Re: A room-temperature superconductor? New developments

#563
post #353

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We'll use them to build spacecraft that retrieve asteroids so rich in gold that it permanently crashes the price of gold? People don't seem to realize how radically society will change if this superconductor thing is legit.

How does room temperature superconductivity lead to the feasibility of asteroid mining? Could you please explain?

You could also ask "How does room temperature semiconductivity lead to the feasibility of asteroid mining?"

the answer to that question is the answer to your question.

Re: A room-temperature superconductor? New developments

#564
post #455

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

> we’ll be living in the future This is a tautological statement if I ever saw one!

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.

Re: A room-temperature superconductor? New developments

#565
post #516

Earlier quoted context omitted.

None of the things you listed are limited by the conductors in them. The efficiency of high voltage AC power lines is limited by capacitive coupling to ground. Battery charging is limited by the cell chemistry. CPU heat output is limited by the resistance of the semiconductors. Turns out metals (in particular copper) are already incredibly good conductors.

> CPU heat output is limited by the resistance of the semiconductors. Can't superconductor help here?

It's not obvious to me how it could. Transistors require a semiconductor.

Re: A room-temperature superconductor? New developments

#566

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Battery charging is limited by the cell chemistry. Yes, but superconductors don't have that limitation, do they? You just dump current into them.

They have low losses when storing power, but power has to be stored in the magnetic field. They have a limit on acceptable magnetic field strength called the critical field though, above which it stops being a superconductor and bad things™ happen. Current SMES systems have an energy density of about ¹⁄₅₀th of current Li-ion batteries.

You are right about the energy density and limitations. I was more focused on the fast rate of storage and retrieval.

Re: A room-temperature superconductor? New developments

#567
post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, that's quite likely how they come up with this number. But is it enough? What's the most energy dense configuration that can be made with room temp SC and does it compete with lithium batteries?

I just took a look at the source paper [0] """ Although the attainable magnetic flux density limits the energy per unit volume given by Equation (1) ( B2 /2μ o), the real limit of the energy stored in a SMES is mechanical. [...] The relation defines the minimum mass of the mechanical structure in pure tension to support the radial electromagnetic forces. Force-balanced coils [5] minimize the working stress and thus t…

Ah, ok. It seems that this SMES thing is not a solution at all for dense energy storage.

Re: A room-temperature superconductor? New developments

#568
post #401

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 are they doing?! Trying to make ad money with views, which is their profit incentive. Mouse models are nearly always spun as applicable to humans, which an average, aging, viewer would be interested, usually relating to "Cure ", "regrow limbs", "stop aging", etc. The average viewer isn't interested in superconductors, and the 10 seconds the news orgs have for each bit of news isn't enough to explain them.

The NYT has published 3 articles about room-temperature superconductors since March; all about the insanely high-pressure one that is INFINITELY less exciting than the new claim and turned out to be bunk anyways.

Re: A room-temperature superconductor? New developments

#569
post #516

The ramifications of the inflection point we are currently at is mind boggling. I had a hard time explaining this last night but we may very well be witnessing the beginnings of a technological transformation era much like when the p-n junction was invented. From the 1940s standpoint it would be hard to envision all we had today. - Lossless transport of energy - Batteries that don't take any time to recharge - Faster…

None of the things you listed are limited by the conductors in them. The efficiency of high voltage AC power lines is limited by capacitive coupling to ground. Battery charging is limited by the cell chemistry. CPU heat output is limited by the resistance of the semiconductors. Turns out metals (in particular copper) are already incredibly good conductors.

In the RF world (particularly at mm-wave frequencies), even copper has very non-negligible losses. In most passive circuits conductor loss is the limiting factor of performance. No idea if this material retains the same properties at such frequencies, and is compatible with typical lithography or other fabrication techniques, but it'd be amazing if so.

Re: A room-temperature superconductor? New developments

#570

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> CPU heat output is limited by the resistance of the semiconductors. Can't superconductor help here?

It's not obvious to me how it could. Transistors require a semiconductor.

To my knowledge, computers can be designed without any transistors
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