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Exotic new superconductors delight and confound

quantamagazine.org

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Re: Exotic new superconductors delight and confound

#41

Post by jmward01 »

EasyMark wrote: post #27
jmward01 wrote: post #2

The great thing about watching advances in superconductors is that any day we could discover the first true practical room temp superconductor and that one day changes the world immensely. I personally think we are likely to find one in the next 5-10 years, but that estimate is based on nothing but hope and optimism on my part.

Why is room temperature important, what if "the world's first superconductor at 0C" was the headline?

I agree, 'room temp' isn't exactly precise. Even if it could work at 'room temp' if it didn't work just above that it would be too finicky for a lot of applications. Somewhere around there is likely the 'magic' point for a huge number of applications that will change the world. The perfect would be, of course, one with a very broad range of environments it could perform in. I think we are on track to figure out how to make something truly sci-fi in its properties: Strong, wide range of temp/conditions, flexible, etc etc. Once we get the theory perfect I bet the world will really open up.

Re: Exotic new superconductors delight and confound

#42

Post by nharada »

jmward01 wrote: post #38
dtgriscom wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Data point: liquid nitrogen is cheaper than milk.

How interesting..... Of course liquid nitrogen + milk (with one or two other things) is worth more than the sum of its parts.

Yeah, haven’t you seen how much they charge for Dippin Dots??

Re: Exotic new superconductors delight and confound

#43

Post by anyfoo »

nine_k wrote: post #22
dtquad wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the most valuable applications it is also "good enough" to find a superconductor that can be cooled with cheap liquid nitrogen and retain the magnetic field tolerance, current-carrying capacity, and thermal stability of a superconductor cooled with expensive liquid helium. Some so-called "high temperature" superconductors begin superconducting at liquid-nitrogen temperature or higher. However in real life applica…

Mechanical properties are very important, too. Able to bend, able to be cut, able to withstand mild shocks and vibration without fracturing. Something you can make actual wires from, at least at some stage. This, superconducting at liquid nitrogen temperature, would produce a revolution. Transmission lines alone would be huge.

> Transmission lines alone would be huge.

Or small! :D

Re: Exotic new superconductors delight and confound

#44

Post by scheme271 »

EasyMark wrote: post #27
jmward01 wrote: post #2

The great thing about watching advances in superconductors is that any day we could discover the first true practical room temp superconductor and that one day changes the world immensely. I personally think we are likely to find one in the next 5-10 years, but that estimate is based on nothing but hope and optimism on my part.

Why is room temperature important, what if "the world's first superconductor at 0C" was the headline?

I don't think room temperature is important per se. Rather it's shorthand for a superconductor that functions without special cooling. Even if the temperature range is somewhat limited, it's still possible to be pretty useful (e.g. deep ocean temps are fairly cold and stable so a superconducting cable to power repeaters on fiber optic cables might be useful).

Re: Exotic new superconductors delight and confound

#47

Post by nine_k »

anyfoo wrote: post #43
nine_k wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mechanical properties are very important, too. Able to bend, able to be cut, able to withstand mild shocks and vibration without fracturing. Something you can make actual wires from, at least at some stage. This, superconducting at liquid nitrogen temperature, would produce a revolution. Transmission lines alone would be huge.

> Transmission lines alone would be huge. Or small! :D

But either way freezin' cool!

Re: Exotic new superconductors delight and confound

#48

Post by zardo »

skeaker wrote: post #19
tedsanders wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd bet that the first room temperature superconductor does not "change the world immensely." Resistive losses are just one of very many attributes of a conductor. Others important attributes include: - current capacity (will you need humongously thick wires to match charge carried by aluminum or copper?) - ductility (can it be formed into wires cheaply?) - cost (does CapEx outweigh electricity savings? is it expensi…

I think even if it's only usable in niche scenarios it would still be a commercial success. Superconductors are useful even when they're hard to use, as seen with existing cold temperature superconductors which a room temperature one could certainly replace and become a commercial success in doing so. With that said, you're likely correct that the first attempt won't catch on for mass adoption.

> as seen with existing cold temperature superconductors which a room temperature one could certainly replace and become a commercial success in doing so.

High temperature superconductors are only seeing commercial use in the last few years (after their discovery in the 80s) due to issues like poor ductility.

Re: Exotic new superconductors delight and confound

#50

Post by Panzer04 »

dtquad wrote: post #4
jmward01 wrote: post #2

The great thing about watching advances in superconductors is that any day we could discover the first true practical room temp superconductor and that one day changes the world immensely. I personally think we are likely to find one in the next 5-10 years, but that estimate is based on nothing but hope and optimism on my part.

For the most valuable applications it is also "good enough" to find a superconductor that can be cooled with cheap liquid nitrogen and retain the magnetic field tolerance, current-carrying capacity, and thermal stability of a superconductor cooled with expensive liquid helium. Some so-called "high temperature" superconductors begin superconducting at liquid-nitrogen temperature or higher. However in real life applica…

For the most valuable applications, sure - but a lot of the biggest historical advances came not from the first application of that new tech, but from that new tech becoming cheap and ubiquitous.

Maybe (cheap) room-temp superconductors won't actually be that interesting (maybe it just increases energy transmission efficiency 5-10%), but perhaps it's availability catalises a whole range of new applications that were never considered before.

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