Room temperature super conductor possibly discovered

[legend]

Room-temperature superconductor 'breakthrough' met with scepticism

WWW.NEWSCIENTIST.COM

---

Creating a material that perfectly conducts electricity at room temperature and pressure would be a big deal, but a research team's claims of creating one has attracted more scrutiny than optimism

 

 

Quote

A team of researchers claim to have created the first materials that conduct electricity perfectly at room temperature and ambient pressure, but many physicists are highly sceptical. Speaking to New Scientist, Hyun-Tak Kim at the College of William and Mary in Virginia says he will support anyone trying to replicate his team’s work.

 

Superconductors are materials that electricity can move through without encountering any resistance and so would significantly cut down the energy costs of electronics. But for over a century, researchers have been unable to make them work except under extreme conditions like very low temperatures and remarkably high pressures.

 

Now, Kim and his colleagues claim to have made a material that is superconductive at room temperature and pressure.

 

 

I've been seeing story this make the rounds on Twitter (fuck you I'm not saying X). A result like this needs serious skepticism. However, it's from a reputable Korean research group, and from what I've heard, the paper seems legitimate, so there is a lot of finger crossing that this holds up to replication. If it does, it would be a civilization changing piece of technology.

 

So, I wouldn't trust it just yet, but this seems hopeful enough to think about.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

If -- and that's the BIGGEST FREAKIN' "IF" POSSIBLE -- this turns out to be accurate AND replicable, it could very well dwarf nuclear fusion in terms of significance!

[Guest]

This sorta claim has come around a few times in just the last 18 months. It's always got some really important caveats. I look forward to hearing more from the smart people on this one soon.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Speaking of ambient-temperature superconductors:

 

‘A very disturbing picture’: another retraction imminent for controversial physicist

WWW.NATURE.COM

---

Ranga Dias will have a second paper revoked. A journal’s investigation found apparent data fabrication. Ranga Dias will have a second paper revoked. A journal’s investigation found apparent data fabrication.

 

Quote

A prominent journal has decided to retract a paper by Ranga Dias, a physicist at the University of Rochester in New York who has made controversial claims about discovering room-temperature superconductors — materials that would not require any cooling to conduct electricity with zero resistance. The forthcoming retraction, of a paper published by Physical Review Letters (PRL) in 20211, is significant because the Nature news team has learnt that it is the result of an investigation that found apparent data fabrication.

 

@legend - maybe not exactly the best timing for Dr. Kim and his team to publish their findings

[TwinIon]

The reactions I've seen so far have been pretty skeptical.

[b_m_b_m_b_m]

Count me in the “highly skeptical “ camp

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Unfortunately for this team, there exists a not-insignificant degree of skepticism -- whether warranted or not -- from the scientific community whenever Korea-based researchers announce a major breakthrough as a result of this scandal:

 

 

 

I HIGHLY recommend those videos and this particular YouTube channel as a whole!

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

19 minutes ago, TwinIon said:

The reactions I've seen so far have been pretty skeptical.

 

9 minutes ago, b_m_b_m_b_m said:

Count me in the “highly skeptical “ camp

 

 

Quote

Here’s what a superconductivity expert, Professor Jorge Hirsch at University of California at San Diego said today about the new paper: ‘It’s not superconductivity. It’s experimental artifacts, wishful thinking and poor judgment (in the best scenario).’

 

[legend]

2 hours ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

Speaking of ambient-temperature superconductors:

 

‘A very disturbing picture’: another retraction imminent for controversial physicist

WWW.NATURE.COM

---

Ranga Dias will have a second paper revoked. A journal’s investigation found apparent data fabrication. Ranga Dias will have a second paper revoked. A journal’s investigation found apparent data fabrication.

 

 

@legend - maybe not exactly the best timing for Dr. Kim and his team to publish their findings

 

 

Haha yeah I knew about this one. It's different, but it these kinds things are why everyone should be skeptical of grand claims. This one I posted from Korea seems to be getting more attention, which could just be weird social media noise, but I thought it was worth talking about all the same! In all likelihood, it's probably wrong because it's just too good  

[elbobo]

2 hours ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

If -- and that's the BIGGEST FREAKIN' "IF" POSSIBLE -- this turns out to be accurate AND replicable, it could very well dwarf nuclear fusion in terms of significance!

 

it would EASILY dwarf nuclear fusion, fusion would be used to produce electricity, room temp superconductors would be used in everything that uses electricity, it would be an absolute world changing piece of tech and would almost assuredly be used to make fusion power a reality. 

[Massdriver]

I hope it’s true, but sounds like it’s not likely. 

[Rev]

I hope this means we can finally have real hoverboards. 

[Air_Delivery]

9 hours ago, elbobo said:

 

it would EASILY dwarf nuclear fusion, fusion would be used to produce electricity, room temp superconductors would be used in everything that uses electricity, it would be an absolute world changing piece of tech and would almost assuredly be used to make fusion power a reality. 

If it is real it depends on many things. If it can be produced in quantity, the price of production, and the materials used. Graphene has been the magic material for decades but has gone nowhere as far as real use because we've yet to find a process to produce in quantity. 

[legend]

My estimate of this being real has gone from very low to very very low  

 

However, I'm still waiting for the nail in the coffin of someone reproducing and providing better data to show it's not what they thought, or completely failing to reproduce altogether!

 

Fortunately, the procedure is pretty straightforward so we may have a definitive answer by the end of this week.

[elbobo]

26 minutes ago, legend said:

My estimate of this being real has gone from very low to very very low  

 

However, I'm still waiting for the nail in the coffin of someone reproducing and providing better data to show it's not what they thought, or completely failing to reproduce altogether!

 

Fortunately, the procedure is pretty straightforward so we may have a definitive answer by the end of this week.

 

yeah the procedure seems like something any decent chem lab in a university could do, this shouldn't be hard to verify or debunk

[legend]

I’ve decided that the worst timeline is this result is real, but it’s too late, we’ve already crossed a tipping point for climate change in the worst possible version. 

[johnny]

i don’t know what any of this means! 

[legend]

1 minute ago, johnny said:

i don’t know what any of this means! 

Basically science fiction technology becomes possible if this is solved. Except warp drive. 

[CitizenVectron]

What are the biggest benefits of this? Less power required because transmission (over all distances) becomes easier? No heat produced by electronics?

[Massdriver]

15 minutes ago, CitizenVectron said:

What are the biggest benefits of this? Less power required because transmission (over all distances) becomes easier? No heat produced by electronics?

 My sense is this would be revolutionary to energy, computers, and electronics. It would be the largest paradigm shift since the Internet. However I don't fully understand it either.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

23 minutes ago, CitizenVectron said:

What are the biggest benefits of this? Less power required because transmission (over all distances) becomes easier? No heat produced by electronics?

 

8 minutes ago, Massdriver said:

 My sense is this would be revolutionary to energy, computers, and electronics. It would be the largest paradigm shift since the Internet. However I don't fully understand it either.

 

28 minutes ago, johnny said:

i don’t know what any of this means! 

 

 

Viral Superconductor Study Claims to 'Open a New Era for Humankind.' Scientists Aren't So Sure.

WWW.VICE.COM

---

LK-99 could be a watershed discovery that enables widespread maglev trains and quantum computers, or it could be another major disappointment.

 

Quote

 

A superconductor is a material that does not lose any electricity to resistance when it is passed through it, in contrast to just about every other material in existence. Replacing copper wiring with a superconductor would make humanity’s electricity use radically more efficient, for example. Superconductors could power quantum computers, make maglev trains more widespread and feasible, and make MRI machines (which already use superconductors) cheaper. 

 

The problem is that, so far, superconductors require extremely low temperatures or high pressures to work, limiting their widespread application. Hence the search for a room-temperature superconductor that works at ambient pressures, which the new research claims to have discovered in a new substance called LK-99. 

 

 

As for what other scientists think about the paper...

 

Quote

 

Researchers contacted by Motherboard expressed deep skepticism regarding the paper’s supposed findings. “It is really frustrating! With such a title I thought that it should be something serious, but it does not seem so,” said Pablo D. Esquinazi, head of the Division of Quantum Magnetism and Superconductivity at the University of Leipzig, in an email. 

 

“The transport data on the manuscript cannot be taken seriously in the way they presented. And about the ‘levitation,’ well I do not think that the video shows what we see when we have a superconducting material levitating on a permanent magnet. You can get a similar behavior with a sample having a part magnetically ordered, near or on the permanent magnet,” he wrote. Esquinazi forwarded Motherboard a video from Jorge Hirsch, a professor of physics at the University of California, San Diego, demonstrating this effect.

 

Indeed, in a video purporting to show the levitational Meissner effect of LK-99, the alleged superconductor never fully makes it off of the magnet. 

 

“In any case, it is really not worth [discussing] at this stage,” Esquinazi added. 

 

 

Quote

 

“I think this is attracting more attention than it probably warrants until there is independent verification,” said James Hamlin, an associate professor at the University of Florida’s physics department focused on superconducting at high temperatures. He also expressed that the finding was not worthy of media attention at this point. 

 

“Other groups should make the material and confirm or the discovery group should supply samples to experts who are qualified to take more complete and convincing data,” he added. 

 

 

[unogueen]

This is the part where the rest of us leave it to the expects. Don't let the media tempt you into an opinion you don't deserve.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

I'm gonna break my own rule because I'm pretty sure that we can put this one to rest now.

 

 

 

 

Regarding the reference to "Schoen-level misrepresentation":

 

Schön scandal - Wikipedia

EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG

 

 

[legend]

This actually doesn't seem dead yet...

 

At least one Chinese research university is reporting preliminary success at replicating. A researcher from the national lab is also reporting that atomic simulations of the material do support the possibility that it has room temperature superconductor properties that previously were unknown. The diamagnetism being "all" it is doesn't seem clear cut from other discussions I've been seeing online.

 

I maintain high skepticism about all this, but it hasn't been rejected yet...

[elbobo]

Yeah the tone of discussion changed overnight from "seems really unlikely" to "hold on maybe there is something here"

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

IT'S ONCE AGAIN TIME FOR ME TO CRUSH YOUR HOPES AND DREAMS UNDER MY COLD, HARD BOOT OF REALITY!

 

Prof. Michael S Fuhrer (@MichaelSFuhrer): "I wrote a little thread in response to someone else's tweet about this tweet, and I figured I'd copy it here. TL;dr this is not the sort of result that will get physicists any more excited about the prospect of this material being a high-temperature superconductor. 1/" | nitter.nl

NITTER.NL

---

I wrote a little thread in response to someone else's tweet about this tweet, and I figured I'd copy it here. TL;dr this is not the sort of result that will get physicists any more excited about the prospect of this material being a high-temperature superconductor. 1/

 

[LazyPiranha]

4 hours ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

IT'S ONCE AGAIN TIME FOR ME TO CRUSH YOUR HOPES AND DREAMS UNDER MY COLD, HARD BOOT OF REALITY!

 

Prof. Michael S Fuhrer (@MichaelSFuhrer): "I wrote a little thread in response to someone else's tweet about this tweet, and I figured I'd copy it here. TL;dr this is not the sort of result that will get physicists any more excited about the prospect of this material being a high-temperature superconductor. 1/" | nitter.nl

NITTER.NL

---

I wrote a little thread in response to someone else's tweet about this tweet, and I figured I'd copy it here. TL;dr this is not the sort of result that will get physicists any more excited about the prospect of this material being a high-temperature superconductor. 1/

 

How cold is this boot and how well does it conduct electricity…?

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

2 minutes ago, LazyPiranha said:

How cold is this boot and how well does it conduct electricity…?

 

Probably colder and better than LK-99.

[CitizenVectron]

A team from the Physics department of the Southeast University in Nanjing, China are reporting to have reproduced superconductivity in LK-99, measuring 0 resistance in a sample they manufactured from scratch.

[CitizenVectron]

Apparently only 1 of 6 samples showed zero resistance, and it was still -163C. 

[legend]

This story is an awesome roller coaster. Every day new drama about it, in both directions.

[BloodyHell]

Superconductor Breakthrough Findings Replicated, Twice, in Preliminary Testing | Tom's Hardware

WWW.TOMSHARDWARE.COM

---

A tentative but less nebulous step toward superconductor-fueled electronics.

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Quote

But in what's perhaps the most definite sign of a verification, Chinese researchers with the Huazhong University of Science and Technology have claimed to have successfully replicated the superconductor's manufacturing process, posting a video on Bilibili as proof.

 

Uh-huh.

[BloodyHell]

5 minutes ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

 

Uh-huh.

Yeah, im not pretending I understand or know anything about this, just adding the article to the pile since Toms Hardware is usually pretty reliable in their reporting and analysis.

[CitizenVectron]

From everything I've gathered, a fairly reasonable conclusion of this material would be:

• It is diamagnetic, which is novel but not that useful
• It may function as a superconductor at higher temperatures than most, but still very cold
• There may be better ways to manufacture it which could improve this property

Basically, a step forward in superconductor research, but not the leap forward that was initially thought.