• i_love_FFT@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    We used to get “superconductors” then “room temperature superconductors”, now this one is “room temperature and room pressure superconductor”

    Next one will also include “unleaded” 😂

    • cynar@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      The steps actually mattered.

      The first superconductors were weird, and required EXTREME conditions to function (generally liquid helium). These allowed for the first MRI machines, and some other tech.

      “Type 2” superconductors changed the game. They function at far higher temperatures. This means that liquid nitrogen is enough to keep them functional. These allowed for the large scale roll out of smaller, cheaper MRI machines. You no longer needed a small factory to keep them from self destructing.

      The holy grail was room temperature superconductors. These wouldn’t need special conditions to function. Unfortunately, they didn’t account for pressure. It turns out that superconductors can be made roon temperature, if the pressure is EXTREME. While this is very interesting from a science perspective, it’s completely useless to technology improvement.

      Hense the newer category, room temperature and pressure. It’s what the holy grail should have been, but no one accounted for the pedants.

      If this material performs as claimed, it’s a big deal. A lot of sci-fi like tech suddenly becomes viable. Much of it centered around power generation, storage, and distribution.

    • Candelestine@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      … if true, this is one of the big ones. Like the discovery of atomic fission, which led to power plants and bombs.

      This one leads to a lot of sci fi shit. We could never transfer energy without losing a big chunk of it to waste heat, waste that builds up and ruins everything eventually. This has held back electronics, and really almost all electrical applications for a long time.

      This would fix that. Room temp superconductor is your phone no longer getting hot, your computer no longer needing a fan system. It’s also easy maglev and small supercomputers.

      • SpunkyBarnes@geddit.social
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        1 year ago

        That’s the caveat, if it’s true. If it is? Future’s sounding much brighter.

        Also, TIL not to lead with a pun.

      • ShadowRam@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        Yeah… if true… this will out do the transistor, laser, MEMS, all of it.

        Massive amount of tech.

        It’ll be century defining, kind of like the discovery and wide adoption of electricity.

    • Leeks@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      The process they describe for making it is simple, takes a bit over 3 days, and the tools and ingredients are fairly common. I would hope someone tries to replicate this ASAP and we start to see whispers of the validity of this soon, like in the next week or two.

    • Velskadi@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      The only other Superconductor news that I can think of recently involved Ringa Dias, who has had to retract a couple of his papers. I can’t find anything about this team having retracted papers regarding Superconductors.

  • wischi@programming.dev
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    1 year ago

    Sure. In a few weeks there will be another article about a new battery that “scientist found” with 100 times the capacity of modern Li-Ion batteries 🤣