cross-posted from: https://derp.foo/post/108276
There is a discussion on Hacker News, but feel free to comment here as well.
Alleged previous attempt: https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1sM4y1H7MX/
I’m still trying to not get too excited but its getting difficult with all the new videos and replications. We’re getting close to real world hoverboards!
hoverboards are nice and all but if this helps us with nuclear fusion itll be a world changer.
Fusion and compact magnetic imaging, we’d have a tricorder and a path to a: higher density magnetic storage, 2: possible magnetic fabrication, via precise layer deposition.
If anyone wants more context on what’s going on with this research, and the potential implications and limitations, I found this write up to be the best one I’ve come across: https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/08/whats-going-on-with-the-reports-of-a-room-temperature-superconductor/
Good article. I also posted an article from The Verge that mentioned a few other details including ease of manufacturing the material easily and cheaply to be effective if the research pans out and positively identifies K-99 as a true room temperature superconductor.
So all this is exciting, but everyone still needs to take the news with a grain of salt. Don’t get discouraged though, it’s a serious breakthrough if the material is truly replicated.
So, I’ve been standing aloof from all this till more experiments had turned out.
This paper’s synthesis makes no sense, you can’t have any kind of uniforms strained lattice that way, so it would have to be a bulk characteristic superconductors which we’ve never seen before, ie resistance is low and on certain crystalline paths becomes fairly superconductive.
Maybe this is a random fluke and once they actually understand the Mechanics they can make a real superconductors through effective fabrication processes, but if anything this reminds me of Shockley’s first point-contact transistor in structure.
So they can make superconductors, but can not host high quality video somewhere belivable and use tiktok and bilibili?
This looks a lot less like diamagnetism than the previous videos, but is still using way larger magnets than they should need; still very sceptical.
Also a reminder to anybody reading a news article about this: LK99 is likely a ceramic, so the attributes specifically for metallic superconductors would not apply.
Assuming for a moment it is real and works and this class of material is useful for transmitting current with 0 resistance or making magnets, many attributes of other ceramic superconductors also shouldn’t apply given the theory that predicted it says it’s not one of those either.
This also leads to a very very stupid reactionary semantic argument you’ll start seeing more and more over the coming weeks.
I’m honestly more worried about science communicators projecting life-changing properties onto it because “superconductor”, and then the public coming away with “these scientists are all hyperbolic hacks”.
Neat
I hope to see more of this as time goes on
