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billvon

Big news in science - superconductivity

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One of the holy grails in science is the room temperature superconductor. It's important because a superconductor transmits both heat and electrical power with zero loss, which would make motors, transmission lines, heat pipes etc far more efficient and practical.

For a long time metals had to be at liquid helium temperatures to exhibit superconductivity. Then they discovered ceramics which exhibited superconductivity at -135C. Which is still really cold, but you can get to that with liquid nitrogen which is MUCH easier to create and handle than liquid helium.

Today they announced a material - a lanthanum hydride - which is a superconductor up to -23C, which is a cold day in Canada. They have even seen some signs that it may be superconducting up to 7C, which we saw last night here in San Diego. It needs to be under tremendous pressure (170GPa, about 24 million PSI) but it's a lot easier to maintain pressure than temperature.

This is the first time that a material in "normal" temperatures (i.e. temperatures people regularly see) has exhibited superconductivity, and paves the way for much more efficient power lines, motors and electrical devices.

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/new-hydrogen-rich-compound-may-be-record-breaking-superconductor

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I am impressed with the application of theoretical physics being done in this experiment. It is an interesting half step to hydrogen metal. Given the pressures required to produce the result it is hard to see any practical applications beyond possible use in super colliders.

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Maintaining pressure at that level is easy for very small scale lab applications. For practical applications it will be just as difficult and maintaining temperature, and much for of a safety concern.

Still neat, but not a great leap toward practical applications, IMO.

- Dan G

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DanG

Maintaining pressure at that level is easy for very small scale lab applications. For practical applications it will be just as difficult and maintaining temperature, and much for of a safety concern.

Still neat, but not a great leap toward practical applications, IMO.



Way to keep it positive. This is why people stopped inviting you to birthday parties.
"I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher

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DanG

Maintaining pressure at that level is easy for very small scale lab applications. For practical applications it will be just as difficult and maintaining temperature, and much for of a safety concern.

Still neat, but not a great leap toward practical applications, IMO.



It's a helluva leap forward, period.

We're still a long, long way from practical, room temp superconducting. And I likely won't live to see it.

But S/C at those temps has some practical applications. And lots more theoretical ones (Lab applications).
"There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy

"~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

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Maybe, time will tell. Now it looks like they are just swapping the temperature problem for a pressure problem.

I’m an engineer, so I immediately think about how something can work in the real world. If the underlying physics require a pressire measured in the millions of psi, it is not a practical application.

- Dan G

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DanG

Maybe, time will tell. Now it looks like they are just swapping the temperature problem for a pressure problem.

I’m an engineer, so I immediately think about how something can work in the real world. If the underlying physics require a pressire measured in the millions of psi, it is not a practical application.



I agree. The applications I think of require a mix of superconducting and non-superconducting bits, and it feels easier to me to cool an entire device rather than subject just the superconducting bits to the pressures necessary (which could damage or destroy supporting complex structures)
It's flare not flair, brakes not breaks, bridle not bridal, "could NOT care less" not "could care less".

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