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Room-Temperature Ambient-Pressure Superconductor LK-99 preprint revision 2

arxiv.org

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Re: Room-Temperature Ambient-Pressure Superconductor LK-99 preprint revision 2

#61

Post by sanxiyn »

ajb117 wrote: post #55

I don't know much physics, but is there a reason we should be hoping for superconductivity specifically rather than a cheap material that's just a very very good conductor? Also, even if LK-99 were superconductive, that wouldn't imply it would be useful for computing, right? Surely there are materials that are better conductors than silicon but have mechanical and other physical quirks preventing us from using then f…

Since there will be impurity anyway, there is no difference whatsoever in practice between zero and very very low resistance. Quantum Energy Research Centre in fact describes its resistance to be "lower than 1/10^4 of copper", not zero, which is very practical minded.

Since the company specifically developed thin film by vapor deposition method, I think we can be sure that computing is the intended application. Search for my other comments for details.

Re: Room-Temperature Ambient-Pressure Superconductor LK-99 preprint revision 2

#62

Post by ly3xqhl8g9 »

realjhol wrote: post #56
ly3xqhl8g9 wrote: post #43

"In no case may a prize amount be divided between more than three persons." [1] Sad state of affairs to expect a reward for brilliance and to have science bottlenecked by a merchant of death. Just the fact that the merchant of death gives "peace prizes" should have made the entire affair laughable a long time ago. Perhaps it's time to move on from this ancient and limited understanding of appraisal, awards. I'm in no…

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Re: Room-Temperature Ambient-Pressure Superconductor LK-99 preprint revision 2

#63

Post by tdehnel »

huijzer wrote: post #28
sonium wrote: post #20

I have a PhD in material science and worked with superconductors, here are two things that is often misunderstood: 1) it takes a undergrad to make and measure a superconductor but a Nobel laureate to explain it. 2) in theory if you understand the mechanism of something you can improve it. In material science however almost always all you need is a trial and error approach to end up with a good result. Conclusion: the…

> 1) it takes a undergrad to make and measure a superconductor by a Nobel laureate to explain it. Another example of Taleb’s idea that experimentation comes first and theories second. Universities pretend that it’s the other way around but apart from an Einstein it’s usually not.

Not possible. Theory comes first. Scientists need a theory first to know which experiments to do.

Any interesting experimental results are interesting precisely because they do not conform to the existing theories.

Edit: here's a decent writeup to show what I mean https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory-ladenness

Re: Room-Temperature Ambient-Pressure Superconductor LK-99 preprint revision 2

#64

Post by sanxiyn »

clarionbell wrote: post #60
ajb117 wrote: post #55

I don't know much physics, but is there a reason we should be hoping for superconductivity specifically rather than a cheap material that's just a very very good conductor? Also, even if LK-99 were superconductive, that wouldn't imply it would be useful for computing, right? Surely there are materials that are better conductors than silicon but have mechanical and other physical quirks preventing us from using then f…

There is a lot more than just silicon wafers in our computers. Let's start with all those traces on board. Right now they are made of copper. But what if they could conduct with 0 resistance?

Sure, replacing copper wires help too, but the real deal is to replace copper interconnects inside the chips. It looks like the company is going for replacing copper interconnects in chips.

Re: Room-Temperature Ambient-Pressure Superconductor LK-99 preprint revision 2

#66

Post by yellowcake0 »

saberdancer wrote: post #31
est wrote: post #23

https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV14p4y1V7kS/ Latest update: the diamagnetism has been confirmed from a tiny LK-99 replica sample. The Author posted: > Under the guidance of Professor Haixin Chang, postdoctor Hao Wu and PhD student Li Yang from the School of Materials Science and Technology of Huazhong University of Science and Technology successfully for the first time verified the LK-99 crystal that can be magnetica…

https://targum.video/v/2023/8/1/2534a4408ccce9c13a811e94f16d... Targum translation. From the comments and video it seems he claims levitation of a micron sized particle. Not sure if it is fake or not.

I don't think he claims it's levitating does he? It's just standing up on its end I think.

Re: Room-Temperature Ambient-Pressure Superconductor LK-99 preprint revision 2

#67

Post by maebert »

ajb117 wrote: post #55

I don't know much physics, but is there a reason we should be hoping for superconductivity specifically rather than a cheap material that's just a very very good conductor? Also, even if LK-99 were superconductive, that wouldn't imply it would be useful for computing, right? Surely there are materials that are better conductors than silicon but have mechanical and other physical quirks preventing us from using then f…

A few practical things that we need superconductors for which currently require very expensive cooling:

1) MRIs — could be way cheaper, smaller and more ubiquitous with room temperature superconductors 2) Maglev trains — superconducters expel a magnetic fields that can make things "levitate" (called the Meissner effect). Maglev trains have minimal friction and are incredibly energy-efficient. 3) Quantum computing — most designs require cooled superconductors. Room-temperature superconductors are a requirement for future portable quantum computers, or quantum chips that sit side-by-side in conventional computers

There's a ton more implications, just think about how everything from electric cars to smartphones was only possible due to modern batteries — that's the scale of technical innovations that could be built on this.

Re: Room-Temperature Ambient-Pressure Superconductor LK-99 preprint revision 2

#68

Post by asimpletune »

bibabaloo wrote: post #15
brunooliv wrote: post #12

What are the implications in general of room temperature superconductors? I just know that they needed typically ultra low temperatures right? But what would be the practical implications?

This thread covers some: https://twitter.com/Andercot/status/1685088625187495936

The battery one is crazy, where you just store the electrons in a loop.

Re: Room-Temperature Ambient-Pressure Superconductor LK-99 preprint revision 2

#69

Post by sigmoid10 »

ajb117 wrote: post #55

I don't know much physics, but is there a reason we should be hoping for superconductivity specifically rather than a cheap material that's just a very very good conductor? Also, even if LK-99 were superconductive, that wouldn't imply it would be useful for computing, right? Surely there are materials that are better conductors than silicon but have mechanical and other physical quirks preventing us from using then f…

Silicon is not valuable because it is a good conductor, in fact it is actually more like an insulator in its natural state. However, mixing the right materials into it, it becomes a very good semiconductor. So it can let current flow easily or block it effectively, making it a good basis for transistors. The problem here are the normal (usually copper) wires between transistors that cause heat to build up whenever current flows through them. That limits how densely you can pack wires in a chip. With a superconductor, we could not just have much smaller and much faster processors, we could also have many designs that don't require cooling anymore. Imagine a power monster chip like the RTX 4090 running state of the art LLMs locally on your phone. That's the kind of stuff that's at stake here and that's also why everyone and their uncle wants to be author on the original paper.

Re: Room-Temperature Ambient-Pressure Superconductor LK-99 preprint revision 2

#70

Post by m463 »

keyle wrote: post #10
joefigura wrote: post #3

I just wrote a comment in another thread that's relevant here too. It looks like the first superconductor paper was released by a rouge researcher, without the agreement of the other two authors or the rest of the LK-99 group. This forced the LK-99 group to rush to publish the official paper, with a cost to quality. The LK-99 group released v2 a week later (on Saturday), and probably will continue to update it. A pre…

"Renegade Researcher" is not something I thought could be a thing!

I believe the saying about academia is:

"Competition in academia is so vicious because the stakes are so small."

think about this one though...

wonder what the real story is?

I remember reading about the story of the transistor and the hijinks by shockley:

"Bardeen and Brattain demonstrated the transistor device to Bell Lab officials Dec. 23, 1947. Shockley was reported to have called it "a magnificent Christmas present." But Shockley himself was not present when it happened and was said to be bitter over losing out on that day.

He had his revenge, though. Shockley continued to work on the idea and refine it. In early 1948, he came up with the bipolar or junction transistor, a superior device that took over from the point-contact type."

https://www.wired.com/2009/12/1223shockley-bardeen-brattain-...

(there are probably better stories covering the maneuvers)

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