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A room-temperature superconductor? New developments

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Re: A room-temperature superconductor? New developments

#151
post #19

I still have a very, very hard time understanding what all of this means. Is there an easy to understand explanation for a room temperature superconductor?

For something close to home, imagine a gaming laptop that runs on full performance mode without generating any heat. Imagine datacenters running full workloads without needing cooling.

Electromagnets are built with coils of copper magnet wire - an efficient conductor but generates waste heat - what if we could build those electromagnets with zero resistance? Electric motors become very exciting. The electrical mechanical relationship gets transformed.

We use electricity for everything, so it's hard to communicate the extent of the revolution. People keep bringing up MRI machines because they're on the ragged edge of electromagnet usage constrained by cooling.

Re: A room-temperature superconductor? New developments

#152
post #18

I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one who thought that the DFT computational preprints were very promising. Unfortunately, they also indicate that the desired substitution will be very hard to achieve — crucially, the "crush and separate the composite" suggestion a few commenters have made is unlikely to work, since the heterogeneity exists within the same crystal, depending on whether Cu substitutes into Pb {1}…

Maybe you can help here, I was completely lost in terms of the Iris (Russian Cat Girl) mention of, "engineering conductivity pili of bacteria into the superconductors" is this a reference to nano scale bio engineering or a means of reliable replication of the superconducting structure itself?

Or is this just nonsense? https://twitter.com/iris_IGB/status/1685322871306928128

Re: A room-temperature superconductor? New developments

#153

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).

Re: A room-temperature superconductor? New developments

#154
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[not an expert but...]It shows strong diamagnetism(being repelled by both of the poles of a magnet), which is a property of superconductors. Not necessarily a superconductor though, that’s still to be established but at least it shows that the inventors are up to something and it’s not complete fabrication.

I am no expert on this topic, but I feel this is similar to how ferrofluid forms "spikes" when placed near a magnet. Are they related?

I'm not an expert too but AFAIK ferrofluids are actually attracted by magnets. The spikes are probably as a result of having strong and weak locations of magnetic field and the the liquid rushing into those.

But yes, Maybe I'm interpreting the video wrongly. Yet, to me it looks like the bulky part of the sample is being repelled by both poles of the magnet as it stands upright with the pointy end at the bottom each time. IMHO if this was due to attraction, the pointy end would be at the top.

Re: A room-temperature superconductor? New developments

#156
post #19

I still have a very, very hard time understanding what all of this means. Is there an easy to understand explanation for a room temperature superconductor?

It's a conductor of electricity. But super good at it. i.e. - It has zero resistance to electricity. Currently, the best superconducting materials we can create have to be chilled to near absolute zero, which means designing them to work in liquid helium baths. This is expensive, and difficult. If a material can superconduct at room temperature, now we're talking usage in general purpose consumer goods. As for why we…

If they could get it down to modern chip scale, does that mean you could run a processor very very fast and not generate heat? Or at least a lot less heat? So that would mean much faster clock speeds? What would be the limit on clock speed if you had a superconducting processor?

Re: A room-temperature superconductor? New developments

#157
post #121
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…

ChatGPT please rewrite this in a language of the King James bible.

Verily, yea, the AI hath usurped the dominion of the internet, and it doth dispense unto us news tales predicated on its vast repository of knowledge. A super conductor hath been unearthed by a diligent company of seekers, who toiled for two decades in their quest. Yet, amidst this discovery, internal strife ariseth, making manifest that there are matters to contend with and debate.

Lo, the tidings shared are fraught with obscurity and scant lucidity, yet there lies a glimmer of comprehension therein. From the streams and moving images of the Orient, cometh information in languages unknown to many.

Furthermore, Musk, a man of wealth and innovation, hath purchased the platform known as Twitter.

In a most daring endeavor, a submarine hath ventured to the sunken Titanic, only to be consumed by implosion, as the shipwreck claimed its price.

Re: A room-temperature superconductor? New developments

#159
post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who could you possibly give money for this? It's not like there's a as-seen-on-TV ad for superconductors. But I agree that it needs a healthy dose of skepticism until several reputable groups have replicated it.

Are you tired of stuff sitting on the ground like yesterday's news? Introducing Hovertape, the super-productive superconductor. Now for only 12 easy payments of $19.95, you can make almost anything float. If you order now, we'll throw in 3 rare earth magnets absolutely free!

This reminded me of the Sirens of Titan. The main character makes some bad investment decisions, including in hovering furniture that wobbles uncontrollably when touched.

Re: A room-temperature superconductor? New developments

#160
post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who could you possibly give money for this? It's not like there's a as-seen-on-TV ad for superconductors. But I agree that it needs a healthy dose of skepticism until several reputable groups have replicated it.

Founders soliciting investment, for one.

Most of us are not rich enough to be eligible.

The last dotcom I worked for was trying to get funding and had a freakout because someone took money from an unaccredited investor. Had to spend a bunch of their remaining cash to buy that person out and clear the balance sheets.

You have a lot more leeway to ~defraud~ work with accredited investors without all sorts of consumer-protectiony legal clauses kicking in. It's a liability for future rounds. Luckily there are a bunch of rich suckers out there.

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