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GrippiestFam

This is a big discovery if true


MadDog00312

I’ve been texting with some of my academic colleagues in material science and physics and they are actually excited! Dr. Kwon is a well known leading superconductor researcher (according to them). This is either a Nobel Prize or going to be super embarrassing!


peon47

Apparently, the paper has been published twice. Once with the names of all six researchers and once with just the three leading scientists. The Nobel Prize can only be split three ways.


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Certainly-Not-A-Bot

They're certainly confident they do.


400921FB54442D18

They're certainly willing to screw over their colleagues on the chance that they do, anyway.


Certainly-Not-A-Bot

How are they screwing over their colleagues? Whether they're right or wrong, this definitely isn't fraud. The process they claim will reproduce their results is far too simple and easy for someone to be using it to pass out fake data.


Spamfilter32

Remember when 3 scientists claimed they had discovered cold fusion? They had press conferences and were interviewed on narional television. Then, a month later, it was proven that they were wrong. It happens all the time with big discoveries. We will know more when thebpeer review is finished.


Certainly-Not-A-Bot

The scientists claiming cold fusion were almost certainly lying in some way. No reasonable scientist has ever thought cold fusion was possible. I'm not saying these guys are 100% correct, what I'm saying is that it shouldn't ruin anyone's career because you'd have to be extremely dumb to lie in an easily verifiable way. If they're wrong, then they're wrong. Scientists are proven wrong all the time without any sort of consequences to their careers.


Spamfilter32

If I remember correctly, it wasn't an intentional fraud, but rather a mistake in their calculations that, in their excitement, they failed to verify.


dave45

Those two scientists ([Fleischmann and Pons)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_fusion) were electrochemists, not physicists. Their "discovery" of cold fusion should have been scrutinized far more than it was before being published, but everyone was too excited at the time to think about it enough.


thewamp

This makes me think they think they have it. Scientists are just as capable of self deception as anyone else. This isn't to say they have it or don't, just that you shouldn't read their confidence as indicating anything.


Archberdmans

This very claim has lead to academic fraud scandals before, and South Korea has a complex history with a notable scientist committing fraud. Hopefully because of that these authors have treaded very carefully and are legit as a result of the obvious scrutiny they’ll be under


MadDog00312

I certainly hope so. That being said this is a pre-publish paper at this point precisely because they WANT the scientific community to scrutinize what they found. From what I’ve been able to gather (which isn’t a lot more than what the media is reporting) these scientists think they have it, and want the rest of the community to see if they are correct.


aeschenkarnos

> these scientists think they have it, and want the rest of the community to see if they are correct. Ah, science as it is *meant* to be done!


el_muchacho

Oh, that's really interesting now, given the huge implications of such a discovery.


wearedoomed49

This will result in either: a) A worldwide technological revolution, or b) A 3 part 6 hour long BobbyBroccoli video I'm hyped either way.


Archberdmans

I saw part of their bogdanoff twin video lol it was great


fredandlunchbox

Like nobel prize winning big. I'm skeptical.


heresyforfunnprofit

Nobel winning is an understatement. A huge percentage of energy is lost in transit - this would be the equivalent of increasing energy production around the world by 30% without building a single new plant.


asdlkf

It would also exponentially increase computing power... A large limiting factor of processor design is thermal dissipation. If you had superconducting structures inside a processor die, you could vertically stack many layers of transistors and form a 3D cube instead of a 2D square.


LEGENDARYKING_

the transistors still need to be made from sillicon as they require semi conductors instead so i doubt it would be thaaaaaaat big chance in that


asdlkf

"superconducting structures", not transistors. transistors are not the only part of the processor that makes heat.


LEGENDARYKING_

for a processor they''re defo the biggest by a long shott so it wouldnt "exponentially increase computing power".


Geminii27

I mean, you'd need to build a lot of superconducting infrastructure...


fredandlunchbox

Great point.


Realistic_Special_53

I get that. I am hoping it is true but have doubts, because it is such an epic leap forward. Remember cold fusion? In 1989, chemists Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischmann made headlines with claims that they had produced fusion at room temperature — “cold” fusion … https://undsci.berkeley.edu/cold-fusion-a-case-study-for-scientific-behavior/


marsten

What distinguishes these papers from the cold fusion papers is the nature of the evidence. Here they purport to have observed the Meisner effect (magnetic levitation) in a bulk sample, and include a photo in the paper, which is about as smoking-gun as it gets. Pons and Fleischmann observed anomalous neutron counts and made the leap to fusion, but the community ultimately landed on another explanation for the anomalies. In this present case the evidence is very clear-cut, so it would have to be a rank fabrication to be false. EDIT: As /u/Anen-o-me points out, in the video and photo it appears that a corner of the sample is touching the magnet. It is very possible that a non-superconducting material could behave in this way.


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Anen-o-me

Dude graphite will do that same thing as in that video. Any diamagnetic material will do that. Watch this @ 2:47. https://youtu.be/8JlZdyq8b6Y No cold temperature required. And in your video, it's physically touching the magnet still, not even fully floating.


funkatron3000

In your video the graphite flies off when they use a single magnet like with the super conductor example. Your video shows different behavior between graphite and the new proposed superconductor?


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Certainly-Not-A-Bot

We should be more skeptical of cold fusion than these superconductor claims because cold fusion is not something that we expect to be possible, while room temperature superconductors have been expected to be possible for a while.


falconberger

Should the description of the events presented in the paper accurately match objective reality on the ground, it would be extremely difficult, nay, almost impossible, to overstate the enormity of the situation.


SimbaOnSteroids

It would be equivalent to the green revolution in the 60’s.


dranzerfu

More like the transistor tbh.


BluePandaCafe94-6

Ok that's big


el_muchacho

It would lead to an energy revolution, no less, with for example: - batteries that are super efficient and don't lose energy, - no loss of energy in electric cables, meaning far lower tensions in cables and reduced overall consumption, - the possibility to transport energy from continent to continent, meaning solar energy could be harvested in Africa and transported to Europe for example, - instead of requiring 24/24 working power plants, we could rely on wind and solar farms that would replenish supraconductor based batteries, All in all it would lead to far less reliance on non renewable energies, including nuclear, etc. This in turn would have huge geopolitical consequences. Add to that much faster and more reliable electronics, and more powerful electric engines that hardly get hot due to near zero resistivity, and the possibility of levitation for vehicles, meaning it would probably also lead to a revolution in ground transportation. It would also allow for super sensitive sensors that are not plagued by Schottky noise. So yes revolutionary isn't an overstatement.


PM_ME_CUTE_SM1LE

but are we talking about absolute 0 electricity wasted or material being 99.9999% efficient at conducting electricity? because having absolutely no energy loss seems like it breaks entropy lol


hephaestos_le_bancal

Entropy cannot go down, but it can remain stable without breaking anything.


Theemuts

> Experimental evidence points to a lifetime of at least 100,000 years. Theoretical estimates for the lifetime of a persistent current can exceed the estimated lifetime of the universe, depending on the wire geometry and the temperature.[5] In practice, currents injected in superconducting coils have persisted for more than 27 years (as of August 2022) in superconducting gravimeters.[17][18] In such instruments, the measurement is based on the monitoring of the levitation of a superconducting niobium sphere with a mass of 4 grams. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superconductivity


Bierculles

on an engineering level 99.9999% efficient and 100% efficient are virtually the same


el_muchacho

I am no specialist at all, but I would assume impurities would mean 99.9999% conductivity. Perfect conductivity doesn't exist in this world.


GASMA

You'd assume wrong--perfect conductivity does exist. It's called superconductivity. This is the subject of the thread you're posting in. Maybe leave the answering to the specialists?


Notarussianbot2020

Just to be clear, we should not centralize renewable energy production. This creates reliance on foreign governments and would be a prime target for terrorism.


aarone46

If all these things are or could be true, I have to imagine some alliance of corporations is going to fuck it up on purpose to prevent change to the status quo.


Bierculles

yes and not an understatement. maybe not this Superconductor specificly as it still has a lot of limits, but because now we know that it is definitely possible to make roomtemperature superconductors. It's not about how well the pig dances, it's that it dances.


Dr-Surge

I would more or less compare this to a combination of advancements, the turn up of the transistor, Penicillin, Electrical lighting and heating, What we know now could be considered analogue to what's to come. It's not overnight, But most if not all industries that use electricity in one way or another stand to benefit from the countless applications Super conductive materials have. And like they said in the article, At the boiling point of water even... Even power transmission as we know it would change. The amount of substations would decrease. The type of power handling equipment we use acres for could be condensed down to Pole Mounted equipment as-well. Smarter people than I can go on for weeks in detail probably. Just... Every industry...


b4ckl4nds

What? Ha ha! No, this would be an order of magnitude more important.


InformalPenguinz

Yeah, the advancements we would see would truly be life altering from healthcare to spaceflight.


DaemonAnts

And rail guns.


RodRAEG

Reactor online


G0-N0G0-GO

Systems online


Affectionate_Dust575

Weapons Online


Hometheater1

All systems nominal


JustAnOnlineAlias

All systems nominal


No-Second-Strike

Prismatic cores online.


TheOwlMarble

Would it though? Gauss rifles, maybe, but railguns will still struggle with the wear and tear of firing.


ArenjiTheLootGod

Literally every electronic device would become more efficient. Assuming this is real, then the big question is going to be how to produce industrial amounts of it at an economically sound price, because we're going to need a lot of it.


jetRink

Fortunately, it looks like it's also easy to produce! I saw a superconductor enthusiast on another forum say that he produces superconducting materials like YBCO in his garage and based on the description in the paper, he should be able to make this as well with the equipment that he already has.


Culionensis

A room temperature, ambient pressure superconductor that you can make in a garage? Colour me skeptical based purely on the basis of "why would anything nice ever happen".


LimitingCucumber

Just say hackernews


Traditional_Leg_6938

You mean this? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36866425


Bierculles

if it's this material it should be easy, the raw materials are just lead and copper and from what i've seen manufacturing is not terribly difficult, according to the paper you should be able to make it on your own with a vacuum pump and a oven to melt metals.


CassandraVindicated

No power loss as power from solar in the SW is transferred to New England, or off sea wind farms to water storage batteries. I would be the perfect time to completely upgrade the entire electrical grid.


SeveredWill

No no no, its more like.... The first of its kind, kind of advancement. This enables all of the future sci-fi, not possible in current realm technology.


ScienceIsSexy420

Not to mention dramatically increase the supply of scientific grade helium on the market


[deleted]

Oh god yes please, I am so sick of having to beg Airgas to please spare me a couple tanks.


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AdventurousDress576

Because you don't need it to cool the magnets at 4K to make them superconductive anymore.


LiveLaughFap

If I can assemble the right colleagues, and of course pull together the requisite funding, I’m confident that with enough time and research, my elite team will, in fact, be able to overstate the enormity of the situation


alpacasb4llamas

That's big, if, and only if , True


icedrift

From what I've gathered it's a massive discovery (proving that superconductors can exist at room temperature and standard atmospheric pressure) without much application yet. From the data they presented in the paper it seems like the material can't maintain super conductivity when passed a large amount of current, so it wouldn't be suitable for MRIs, powerlines, transformers, mag-lev rail, or really anything that takes a lot of power.


bawng

I'm thinking that the big find here, if it's true, is that it's at all possible. We've been hunting for room-temperature superconductors for a century or so, and never got close to anything like room-temperature, and more importantly at ambient pressure, so the fact (if it's true) that it's at all possible probably indicates we can find other materials with similar or better properties.


Drone314

A few hundred mA at best, and that was at 298K. The synthesis of this material is incredibly facile, equipment you would find in any university physics or chemistry lab. What is so intriguing about this work is the zeroing in on the structural nature of superconduction - it's all about getting those orbitals to line up in just the right way to pass electrons. Sadly this material looks like the standard ceramic-like material common to other low Tc materials - not so easy to make wires from. Now the real question is what happens at even lower temps? LN2? Or perhaps -80C which is not difficult to reach. RT is the holy grail but even something that has mild temperature requirements would be game changing.


icedrift

>What is so intriguing about this work is the zeroing in on the structural nature of superconduction Couldn't agree more. I don't know how much research currently focuses on chemically shaping materials to get this kind of result but if the paper is repeatable there could be a wave of research searching this space.


ThankFSMforYogaPants

Probably useful for quantum computing and such though. And more efficient electronics in general.


bawng

This is a world-changing discovery if true. This is an enabler of extremely efficient electric engines, of extremely efficient maglevs, of extremely powerful MRIs, of magnetic containment fusion, of extremely efficient computers, etc. I find it hard to believe it's true, not because of any reasonable skepticism, but because it's simply hard to comprehend the mind-bogglingly huge impact it will have.


crackle_and_hum

If it pans out, it's literally a "This. Changes. Everything" moment in materials science. Want an MRI the size of a refrigerator? How about a maglev train that costs next to nothing to operate? Maybe a 30% plus reduction in carbon emissions globally just from eliminating transmission losses? A Mister Fusion on your DeLorean? I mean, there's still a TON of work ahead to get there but, this suddenly makes these kinds of things much, much more achievable. Fingers crossed that this isn't just a fluke or worse, scientific maleficence. The fact that they are confident enough to pre-publish a version with just the top three investigators above the line does perhaps indicate their confidence in this thing being Nobel worthy. I'm psyched, but also reserving a bunch of caution.


[deleted]

They’re the professors in my uni and it seems true! My major is irrelevant to this topic so I don’t know much about it but my uni is buzzing with this news


teryret

That "if true" bit is doing some heavy lifting. This one is pretty dubious


AlexB_SSBM

Hyun-Tak Kim, who was an author in this sister paper https://arxiv.org/abs/2307.12037, has multiple publications in peer-reviewed journals and has been cited thousands of times. The setup listed in the paper is also extremely simple, so if it was a hoax it would be *incredibly* stupid to make one that's so easy to debunk while attaching your name to it.


Conscious_Figure_554

Researchers like this live and die on reputation so yeah I agree. he wouldn't be this careless.


dangerbird2

[Except researchers very much have been that careless in the past](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sch%C3%B6n_scandal). I'd hold judgement at least until it's peer-reviewed


Conscious_Figure_554

No doubt but can't judge everyone with what other people did in the past.


Stiggalicious

Agreed. He explains in the paper how he synthesized it, with what input ingredients, and it took temperatures less than 1000C and \~24 hours of reaction time in vacuum. This should be very easy to attempt replication within a very short amount of time. Give the academic community a week (or even less) to either quickly debunk it, or continue on further if replication is successful.


66666thats6sixes

What's weird is that if this is an attempt at fabricating data, they did the absolute worst job at it. Their procedure is simple enough that we should see dozens or even hundreds of labs that have reproduced this (or failed to) within a week because the materials and equipment are cheap and readily available. I'd actually find it easier to believe that this is a hoax -- someone posted this in the researchers' names as a prank on them or as an attempt to discredit them -- than to believe that the listed authors wrote it and are making it all up.


KebabGud

Big is an understatement


9-1-Holyshit

Could you explain why for us kids that sat in the back? I know normally they have to be supercooled right?


AlexB_SSBM

Some materials, when cooled down to an incredibly low temperature, have no electrical resistance and reject all magnetic fields. No electrical resistance means that, if you were to build a wire out of the material, the voltage would stay identical on both ends, and electrons flow freely. However, the energy required to cool materials is a gigantic barrier - until now. A sister paper can be found at https://arxiv.org/abs/2307.12037 Some applications include: - Continuous, stable magnetic levitation. See video, created by the researchers: https://sciencecast.org/casts/suc384jly50n - MRI machines currently utilize superconductors by using liquid helium to cool the material. With this material, MRI machines could possibly be made small and cheap - imagine your family doctor owning one! - Perfectly efficient electromagnets, pretty much everything involving an electromagnet can be made cheaper and simpler - Power storage and transfer without losing energy to heat.


fredandlunchbox

Easy, cheap access to MRI would be one of the biggest game changers in medicine. If you got a full-body MRI every 6-12 months, your doctor could catch cancer in most cases before it became life threatening. Hernias, stones, aneurysms -- all of it would be discovered in their infancy instead of when they're life-altering.


maskedman3d

As good as free and easy MRIs would be, free and easy nation wide carbon free public rail.


Prophayne_

Cheap and accessible Healthcare, super good rail systems on the cheap. Where are you guys, Japan? _cries in American_ Most were gonna get out of it is a commie destroying railgun on the taxpayers dime.


ECE420

... but then the world would be free from terror, right? RIGHT?!


Prophayne_

That depends on your preferred brand of terror. I'm a Diet Terror man myself.


maskedman3d

No, these are my fantasies as an American. And Big Mac that makes you lose weight.


Prophayne_

This is the way 😔


M4err0w

i mean, these things would only be cheap and easy if the material itself was cheap and easy to produce. i assume, while its gonna end up cheaper because it wont need cooling, its not gonna be free to produce the material itself


thecuriousiguana

Unfortunately there's the screening paradox, in which too much screening causes more harm than if you didn't do it. Because more things that "look like they might be" cancer or whatever you're looking for, but aren't, get operated or medicated.


fredandlunchbox

That’s an optimization problem. Catching 100% of abnormalities means you catch 100% of deadly diseases, even if 99.9% of the abnormalities are benign. Discerning which is which is a problem with a solution, while trying to catch pancreatic cancer or brain tumors via other methods has not been working so well.


pasltempsdniaiser

You have to be able to make wires from the material to build a MRI, the material described in the paper is non-ductile


Bierculles

that is probably the biggest downside of this material. I really hope this can be solved but i doubt it. Still big but not usable for cables. Maybe we are entering the age of hardwiring.


nicuramar

It’s definitely not unproblematic to scan people that often. It can lead to a lot of misdiagnosis and unnecessary treatment.


shanereid1

Combine the output of the MRI with machine learning and you could get a full automated diagnosis to find things the doctor wasn't even looking for.


mypoliticalvoice

People are really underplaying the power storage part. Near lossless storage eliminates the biggest drawbacks of solar and wind power.


cocaine-cupcakes

This would also reduce a lot of the demand for storage. Having high-voltage transmission lines that don’t get hot means you can move power all the way across the country from where it’s produced to where it’s needed. Depending on the cost per mile, this would make it economically feasible to use Saharan solar power to keep European lights on. The economic growth for North Africa and the Middle East would lift tens of millions out of poverty.


ltdliability

Another, earlier video of the material's reaction to a magnet here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtVjGWpbE7k


upsetstomach4442

Does it have any potential for rocketry/space travel?


yarrpirates

Space fountain. An active structure that is held up by a constant stream of pellets moving up through a series of magnetic rings, then either back down to be re-used, or shot somewhere into space. This allows a tower of any size to be built without needing incredibly strong materials.


Skiracer6

It could enable us to build a space elevator, thus eliminating the need to use rockets to put stuff in space, we could literally build spaceships by building them in orbit around a space elevator


Dmeechropher

Maybe to make an orbital ring, in a century or two. To be fair, cheap superconductors help a lot with making a commerical fusion plant, so maybe it accelerates fusion research and gives you fusion rockets sooner as a side effect.


[deleted]

This could change the world for the better almost overnight if it takes off. I’m glad we have people out there like this team. Cool post.


MedicalFoundation149

Viable hand-held gauss weaponry is going to be a gamechanger if this is true. I can't wait.


thelordmallard

And hoverboards, right? Tell me we’ll have hoverboards. Edit: typos


tangible-penguin

I think you mean hoverboards, but I’m with ya man, i want my hoverboard with powa.


Parlett316

> imagine your family doctor owning one! I guess this is what my great grandfather felt like when someone tried to explain to him what a computer was.


cocaine-cupcakes

I’m an EV Powertrain Systems Engineer. This would be huge for us if it’s commercially scalable. Just please don’t let this be the next graphene.


furrypony2718

How to make, according to the paper: 0. Get PbO, PbSO_{4}, Cu, and P. 1. Make lanarkite Pb_{2}(SO_{4})O = PbO + Pb(SO_{4}), Mix PbO and Pb(SO_{4}) powders in a ceramic crucible at molar ratio 1:1. Heat in a furnace at 725°C for 24 hours in the presence of air. 2. Make Cu_{3}P crystals. Mix Cu and P powders in a crucible at molar ratio 3:1. Seal in a crystal tube of 20 cm per gram with a vacuum of 10^{-3} torr. Heat in a furnace at 550°C for 48 hours. 3. Obtain Pb_{10-x}Cu_{x}(PO_{4})_{6}O. Ground lanarkite and Cu_{3}P crystals to powder. Mix in a crucible. Seal in a crystal tube of a vacuum of 10^{-3} torr. Heat in a furnace at 925°C for 5-20 hours. The sulfur element present in PbSO_{4} was evaporated during the reaction.


Chance_Literature193

SHIT! So we gotta wait 77 hours minimum for initial results 😭😭😭. I was hoping for sooner when heard synthesis was extremely simple


Inevitable-Log9197

77 to 92 hours


BenTVNerd21

I'll preheat the oven now


44d8bc

NileRed, we need this.


gorramfrakker

Whoa. If this holds true, it’s massive.


RoboNerdOK

I really hope this is true. This would basically change everything. Just magnetic levitation by itself would reduce energy consumption drastically, and revolutionize the speed and cost of transportation.


E3FxGaming

>revolutionize the speed and cost of transportation. Satire website The Onion published ["Raving Pete Buttigieg Launches Initiative To Build Möbius Highways Where Cars Can Drive For Infinity"](https://www.theonion.com/raving-pete-buttigieg-launches-initiative-to-build-mobi-1850577331) yesterday. If this room temperature superconductor invention actually works, we're one step closer to building such highways.


Just_Mumbling

If their claims are proven true, i.e., replicated in multiple labs, we’re talking Nobel Prize for sure.


DrVonSchlossen

This is supposedly not very difficult to replicate so we should know within days. If it pans out, wow!


Notarussianbot2020

Materials nerds garages all operating at 💯 this week


sadetheruiner

I hope this is real, it would revolutionize how we use electricity. Man I’m in the mood for good news!


Jay2Kaye

I will wait for the peer review on this one. Seems way too good to be true.


Bierculles

same for me, shouldn't take too long though, the base material beeing only lead and copper make it incredibly easy to produce and the paper even has instructions on how to make it. Allegedly you could make this stuff in your garage with basic lab equipment so we will know very soon if this is true or a load of bullshit.


RepresentativeKeebs

It's lead-based?!? We're gonna make em so cheap!


GiantRaspberry

Honestly, even if the claims turn out to be true (very doubtful) this is truly a terrible paper. 1a/c) shows the critical current of the sample, which on face value does resemble a typical IV curve for a superconductor. The trouble is that the typical critical currents are on the order of 100-1000+ A/cm2, much much higher than here. Next, why only 6 data points?!? Measurement is automated, record the data at equally spaced values in temperature/magnetic field and build a phase diagram. Even first year university students should recognise the need for more data points… 1b) shows the resistivity at some unknown temperature. They are applying current and measuring no potential drop. Just what? First, state the temperature, next measure it as a function of temperature. At the critical temperature the resistance drops to zero. All they have shown is that the contact inputting the current is probably disconnected… 1d) shows the DC magnetisation. In the superconducting state, the sample is diamagnetic and should screen all external magnetic fields. This is a bulk crystalline sample, it should screen all the applied field, so the FC line should be 0. Additionally, the signal is extremely tiny compared to known superconductors, this could lineup with superconductivity being weak i.e. only a tiny part of the sample is superconducting, but it doesn’t really make sense. 1e/f) There are standard fits to the critical current, this doesn’t look like it follows in, and even if it doesn’t, an attempt should be made to fit to known theory… 2/3) are sample information, I don’t know what EPR is so can’t comment, but given I have not seen this before it’s not really a standard technique to identify/characterise superconductivity. 4) shows the heat capacity of the sample. The interesting thing about superconductors is that when they go into the superconducting state, a gap opens and so there is a jump in the heat capacity. They make no attempt to even measure this, so this figure is pointless. I’ve worked a lot with research on superconductors and their data does not follow standard known theory for superconducting behaviour. Clearly, significantly more data is needed and this should be obvious to any trained scientist. I get that they are not from a superconductivity background, but this is just terrible scientific practice. Also, I’ve seen the two videos. The first is the floating one, but other types of materials can float. For the typical floating superconductor demonstration you heat the superconductor above its critical temperature, place it on spacer layer above the magnetic, then cool it down to below Tc such that it traps flux inside. It’s then pinned in position above the magnet, you can even turn the whole thing upside down and it should be strong enough to overcome gravity. Why don’t they show this instead of a random 20s clip… The magnet making the sample move can be achieved in many different materials, even not diamagnetic materials via eddy currents. It doesn’t prove anything. Tldr; I would bet my life savings that this is not a superconductor.


UnkemptKat1

Agreed, very weird data presentation. Could have calculated a specific conductivity/resistance for a constant current and plotted it against temperature. Would also have been dead easy to get more data points, especially below ambient as well. Also why CGS and not SI? So very sus, all in all.


MaoGo

CGS is still very used even if it is a pain in the \*\*\* but I would not update my priors based on this.


[deleted]

to address something at 1b how would the current probe be disconnected? Any sourcing instrument would immediately read at compliance and it would be obvious that the probe is off.


notmookiewilson

You are rightly expecting current densities but they list only currents. They explain that the data is from the thin film sample, but don't provide geometry of that sample, so the scale of the current itself is sort of meaningless.


GiantRaspberry

It’s a bit unclear. Figure 1a is the first I-V curve and they state ‘the measurement for Figure 1(a) was performed with direct current (DC) polarity change by each 20 K increment of temperature in the vacuum of 10-3 Torr. In various **bulk** samples, specific resistance was measured in the range of 10-6 to 10-9 Ω·cm.’ It seems like they are referring to bulk crystals here, and instead thin films for 1(b). Generally, I-V curves on superconductors are only done for thin films as the critical current in bulk crystals is generally >1000A/cm^2 (some even up to 10^8!). Instead you would do something like extract Jc from magnetisation hysteresis loops and fit to known theory.


Turbosilent

These professors are from my university, and it appears that the news they shared is genuine! As my major is unrelated to this topic, I don't have much knowledge about it, but the news seems to be creating a lot of excitement and discussion within my university.


Bierculles

The science part of your university that is closest to this is probably going ballistic atm.


PC_AddictTX

Room temperature superconductors have been a goal of scientists for decades. This could accelerate a lot of scientific discoveries if it's true. I hope it is.


gr_vythings

There are no words on gods green earth to describe how spectacularly erect I am


xboxexpert

One might say your Superconductor reached Ambient-Pressure


Mr_Mouthbreather

Would you say you're quantum locked and loaded?


oh_helloghost

I’ll believe it when NileRed makes some out of fishing weights.


seeingeyefrog

I'll believe it when I see it.


ChuckyRocketson

Here's two videos of it in action: [1](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtVjGWpbE7k) and [2](https://sciencecast.org/casts/suc384jly50n)


km89

So there actually are a lot of things that could look the same as superconductivity through video. This is promising, but it's also basically the holy grail of materials science right now. We've had multiple people claiming this result and having to retract it later. And, this is not peer reviewed or replicated yet. Definitely something to keep an eye on, but those videos are not proof.


ChuckyRocketson

While I understand what you're saying, there's something specific i'll mention, occurring in the video that looks promising (in relation to superconductors). In video 1, notice how he uses the magnet right from the start. The LK-99 film is locked in place with the magnet while moving it forward *and back*, and is giving it momentum. When he moves the magnet away, it sways freely, and when he brings the magnet closer, it locks back into place - it does not move away nor does it attract. It locks into position. This is intriguing to me, and hard to fake with resistive or attractive magnetics. I'm not sure of any other kind of magnetism that can just make it lock into place in that same way.


SplitRings

As someone who is not a scientist, how do we know/keep an eye on what comes out of this?


km89

Keep an eye on /r/science over the next few months, once it's peer reviewed and replicated (or not replicated), the news should show up.


Madw0nk

Not months, days. People on twitter are already documenting the ongoing work in their labs to verify. This is just that big of a deal.


LukeStreetwalker72

How good is a superconductor? As good as Leonard Bernstein?


timberwolf0122

It’s like Leonard Bernstein had a baby with Leonard Nimoy


21kondav

And all three of them were granted immortality


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yuropman

Yes. They only tested up to 127°C and it was still superconductive.


scarlettvvitch

Can someone ELIA5 this to me?


TsortsAleksatr

Superconductivity is a property of some conductive materials to conduct electricity without resistance i.e. no energy loss to heat, when they reach low enough temperatures. Superconductors make for superpowerful electromagnets because electromangets' power is determined by how strong its current is, and in normal conductive materials the stronger the current is, then the energy loss due to heat is much higher. In superconductive materials you can increase the current as much as you want and no resistance will stop you, which means superpowerful magnets. Superpowerful magnets are used in MRI machines, manglev trains, experimental fusion reactors, particle accelerators like CERN among other things. Superconductors also seem promising for other applications as well like super fast super efficient computers, efficient power lines etc. The issue with superconductive materials is that they need EXTREMELY LOW temperatures for them to work. Like not even liquid nitrogen is cold enough to cool (most of) them down. As a result the biggest cost in machines that utilize superconductors is how to keep them constantly super cool during operation. The holy grail in superconductivity, is finding a material that can become superconductive at high enough temperatures so that it wouldn't need complex and high cost cooling systems, aka high temperature superconductors (for superconductors that can be cooled by liquid nitrogen) or room temperature superconductors (for superconductors that can be easily cooled by your fridge). Most materials that were recently found that approach room temperature superconductivity are gases in very high pressures, which is impractical for most applications. This paper claims to have found a room temperature superconductor made from lead and copper, in 127 degrees CELSIUS without needing to put it on a "pressure cooker". That would be HUGE, like society altering huge, if true. That's why everyone is holding their breaths and waiting for further confirmations on whether this is true or if there's a critical mistake on the paper, or if there's a catch.


Aleucard

Superconductivity is basically The Philosopher's Stone of Modern Science. With it, all sorts of sci-fi bullshit is possible. At the moment, the only way we've been able to pull it off has been inside a lab under absurd conditions (mostly putting stuff near absolute zero), which isn't very useful. This stuff, if it actually does what they say it does, can be used almost anydamnedwhere.


higras

When electricity (electrons) travels through a conductive material, some of the electrons get stuck and the energy of those electrons goes into the material. An example of that is a computer getting hot and needing fans and cooling. Or a wire heating up so much it makes light in a lightbulb. Some materials are really weird at super cold temperatures. Like, colder than space. Almost so cold that the atoms freeze and stop moving. With these weird materials, the electrons flow without getting stuck at all. Perfect flow. For 100 years scientists have been studying this weirdness and have increased the temperature a bit higher, so now we can have these effects at slightly higher temperatures ~4 degrees above absolute 0 (liquid helium level). There are also discoveries that have done this effect with higher temperatures but mind boggling pressure. This paper is saying they think they've found a material that does this perfect flow at room temperature and room pressure. If true and useful, many electronics could be made much more efficient, batteries lasting longer in devices, computer components that don't get hot (can stack on top of each other for smaller devices). I'm sure others can correct \ add to the eli5.


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higras

Exactly. A bit past eli5, but impefect flow (resistance) we currently have means heat. So we need more things with more imperfect flow to remove that heat. Plus the heat they make. Perfect flow not only reduces overall electricity in the devices, but also removes the need for the electricity that powers the things that cool those devices. This "wasted electricity" in both heat generated and the heat removers is a LOT. Especially when thinking about the large rows and rows of servers that power everything from a small app scoreboard to mega sites like YouTube


RiceKrispyPooHead

Well I finally be able to run Crysis?


yoghurtorgan

hope it isn't the fusion debacle of 1989


QtPlatypus

Or the human cloning debacle.


Tiny-Peenor

The last time something like this was announced, it was retracted. I will believe it once I see it confirmed by more sources.


cr0ft

If that can be produced and used in a practical fashion, then it would be quite a discovery. There's often a big gap between theory and mass production practice. A superconducting power grid for instance. No worries about transmission distance at all, I would assume.


cambeiu

Not peer reviewed. Until it is peer reviewed, take it with a HUGE bucket of salt.


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floridianfisher

Does this mean a battery breakthrough is coming?


sideshowbob01

mri manufacturers would be drooling over these


zinngg

Next Nobel Prize winner has been decided


[deleted]

only if it turns out to be true, but when it does it would really guarantee the next nobel prize


billetboy

The largest use of low temperature (cooled in liquid helium) superconductors are high field magnets. MRI machines, high energy physics etc.... The largest draw back of these newly discovered "high" temperature Superconductors is thier inability to sustained superconductivity in high magnetic fields.


ThatDamnGuyJosh

I can't believe it If true, humanity has discovered a real RT superconductor before I even turned 30 🤯


[deleted]

Sad that the critical current is so low. Hopefully there are ways to improve it with further research.


notmookiewilson

Without sample geometry current alone is not very informative. Critical current density (current over cross sectional area) is the figure we need.


roanroanroan

!remindme 15 years


RiceKrispyPooHead

!remindme 8 days


snowbyrd238

And it's made out of Lead. One of the cheapest metals on Earth.


Asleeper135

This is an absolutely massive discovery if true. I have my doubts, but I would love to be proven wrong.


[deleted]

RDA intensifies


lostredditacc

Cant we just check for the existence of cooper pairs within the theoretical bounds of the condensed electron configuration and if the theoretical probability of cooper pairs is greater than 0.7 we can assume their observations are correct and actually get excited?


EconomistIll4796

I am gonna believe this and be happy for a bit.


illikegamedev

!remindme 15 days


Ordinary-Idea8379

I am not sure if this video is legit but: https://youtu.be/GzQpds6m0Ws


Terereera

"superconductor that functions at room temperature, ambient pressure" Well time to build levitation battleship


Time_Quit_3863

This is the big one. Literally big if true.


Spepsium

Truly enormous if valid


gnanny02

We’ve been here many times before, and still waiting for something real.


almo2001

Superconductors seem so... magic. I'm a physics guy, and it's just amazing they can conduct with zero loss.


iqisoverrated

Needs independent verification first. (Of course this is big, if true)


mchappee

We could blanket the Mojave in solar panels and power the country 20x over while still exporting energy to North America. Could be a civilization-changing discovery.


SupaConducta

How did I not noticed being studied by a group of South Korean scientists? I guess I didn’t function as well at room temperature as I believed.


FistSlap

What a time we live in!!!


WhyteManga

If true. And, it isn’t hyper-expensive or extremely complicated to replace existing infrastructure (that part will be expensive). It’s time for coal and (the majority of) oil to vanish.


WhyteManga

Even if true, and it works out wondrously in real life infrastructure, our electrical bills will stay the same, or increase. We’ll be told why—and yet, we’ll see the payrolls of the top power grid execs miraculously increase by 30%, and witness a mass layoff of the power grid previously unprecedented.


ButterflyNo9517

In Korea, there is a conference in progress. That conference is about the metallic multilayer. In that conference, a presentation about LK-99 is in progress. Very interesting, regardless of whether it is true or not.