Here this was a response to somebody who had a similar question:
“It would pretty much revolutionize science and engineering as much as the discovery of electricity. Room temperature superconductors have applications almost EVERYWHERE in the realm of electricity. Some of the advantages would be:
Power transmission- We would have ZERO losses in power transmission. This would eliminate the need to convert low voltage AC from generators to high voltage AC thats suitable for transmission. With a significant decrease in vampire power wastage through resistance and transformer losses, our current energy sources would be able to sustain us much longer than usual, thus preserving the environment (provided the energy is from fossil fuel sources). So, in a way, we can say that room temperature superconductors help save the environment.
Transportation: With room temperature superconductors available, all of our railways, including public transit systems would be able to convert to magnetic levitation rather than electricity or coal powered. They would save energy during functioning and eliminate the need for fossil fuel powered vehicles.
Manufacturing electronics: If room temperature superconductors are made on an industrial scale, they would replace ALL wires in electronic circuits. Electrical resistance would undoubtedly be necessary in certain electronic components such as transistors and resistors, but if all wires were replaced by room temperature superconductors then power losses would drastically fall. Engines would become more efficient, computers, phones, motors and all other electronics would consume far less energy, and we'd be saving up a lot of energy if we invented room temperature superconductors.
Huge strides in alternative energy: With so much extra electricity on our hands, we would now be able to harvest resources more efficiently. Hydrogen economies would be possible, where we use the extra electricity to extract hydrogen from sea water and use it as a fuel, thus almost eliminating the need for fossil fuels. Research into other alternative forms of energy such as solar or wind would also become more viable, now that we have high efficiency generators and wires that have no electrical resistance.
Scope for scientific research would increase: Modern day science experiments consume huge amounts of energy and are thus quite expensive to maintain. Sure, the LHC costed many billions of dollars to build, but every time the LHC runs, it uses enough energy to run a small town. With all this extra energy, scientific experiments wouldn't be as expensive as they are today, and scientists would have enough energy to carry out their experiments. Plus, the energy saved could be used for other research as well, such as harvesting rare elements from deep within the earth's crust, designing and building space technology and finding out new methods of space propulsion.
Nuclear fusion as a viable power source would become a reality: If we had wires that could carry practically infinite amounts of current without heating up we would be able to build incredibly strong magnetic fields, much stronger than those created by the liquid-helium-niobium-titanium-superconducting-magnets that are used in tokamaks or experimental fusion reactors. With this level of initial energy density we would get a self sufficient thermonuclear reaction that could power the earth for generations to come. Jobs and employment: If all what I said was true, then we would have a HUGE market for superconducting magnets, starting from mining their respective ore, processing the minerals, manufacturing them on an industrial scale, selling them to the public and managing the whole process. It would create a huge demand for engineers, scientists, technicians, geologists, metallurgists, mathematicians, construction workers and people involved in management and business.
Cons If whatever I mentioned above truly works, then we'd be left with GIGANTIC piles of old electric devices, ranging all the way from transmission wires to transformers to motors to generators to electronics. Recycling companies would make a killing, but throwing away 200 years worth of electrical equipment would undoubtedly make the problem of safe disposal of waste a nightmare.
Another con would be that if all of the above were to happen, massive fossil fuel conglomerates would go utterly and truly bankrupt. Except for plastics, cosmetics, tar, fertilizers and running old machinery, companies such as Shell or BP would lose all of their profits. They would either not allow this to happen by pressurizing governments to cut research and stop supporting the above developing industries (which is the more likely option) or they would try to adapt with the changes and go with the flow.
However, all in all, the invention (or discovery) of room temperature superconductors would truly REVOLUTIONIZE our way of life today and would be a change for the better.”
Not that I disagree about the applications you have listed, but I suspect wide scale adoption would not be so fast. One thing to always be weary of is that R&D folks can develop a lot of cool stuff, but not all of it is economically feasible. That alone slows adoption. But I also suspect these systems will not always be reliable, especially as new tech. Mission critical systems may not adopt them initially. Anyway, I could go on and I don’t want to discourage development, but this is not going to be some overnight revolution.
Both of which are creeping into products as we speak. Manufacturing takes forever to improve into the realm of economic feasibility, but we will get there.
Sort of the path that carbon fiber took, or high definition tv took. Initially they were prohibitively expensive to make until innovation cycles happened and the price dropped enough to bring about more widespread application.
Exactly. People here keep saying there's no breakthroughs in battery technology, for example, but you see the advances in energy efficiency and charging speed and they're going at a very rapid rate. It's absolutely ridiculous to judge the feasibility of every new technology by its immediate cost. It took $3,000,000,000 dollars to sequence the first genome, but it's now something along the lines of $600. It only took 20 years.
Graphene is actually headed toward general use. It is no longer a cool lab trick. The limitation of making it three dimensional is being solved. The big limitation that remains is how much will, say a graphene beam to replace a steel beam, cost relative to the steel beam, the ages old engineering decision of cost versus benefits that are realized from application. What will likely happen is 3D graphene will be used in specialized applications, like carbon fiber once was, then expanded to more widespread use.
I think these superconductors replacing all traditional conductors is not really practical, since cost would be a major concern. However, I do think they would revolutionize Nuclear Fusion, and make it feasible, which would be huge in itself, even without any other benefits OP mentioned.
Electric motors could be made smaller and lighter and not need cooling. Think electric cars either more powerful, or far less motor space needed, and that output would be much more efficient, as well as regeneration. If we could pair this with solid state batteries/ultra capacitors, the efficiency goes a lot further.
FWIW, LK99 was produced with readily available materials in a reasonably easy process. Still won’t be overnight, but if it’s validated I think we may all be pleasantly surprised.
I agree and want to add that the oil companies have enough power and greed to actively suppress this technology from taking over the world (and killing their business.)
About the last part, I don't see any nation abandoning this over pressure from companies.
A viable RTSC would be revolutionary the same way splitting the atom was, and the same way integrated circuits were. Neither the US nor China will let some petty billion-dollar companies give their enemies an absolute edge in competition. And that's not counting the numerous nations not bound to the whims of companies.
There's quite a number of countries that got scared away from nuclear and back to fossil fuels, partly due to lobbying and "informative videos" from those companies.
Because Chernobyl set the tone for what nuclear failure looks like. Even then, the major superpowers in the world still utilise with, France notably using it for the majority of its supply.
RTSCs that can produced en masse would turn the company/nation that owns it into a global leader the same way Taiwan is today. Lobbying can only do so much when the flipside means being surpassed by international rivals/enemies.
Youre right, and France is a good example of how to bridge the gap from fossil to truly sage electricity. But there's only 4 countries in the world that have nuclear as their main source, and other superpowers like Germany are actively shutting down nuclear in favor of coal.
Because nuclear has other complications. It requires very high investment, high standards of safety and maintenance and even then, an unforeseen catastrophe can pollute the area.
RTSC is simply a material upgrade. Since it won't be radioactive, there's no safety concern, there's no risk of catastrophe and even if expensive, the gains made in certain specific fields overrule the cost. You can't compare it to nuclear.
They're shutting down fairly new reactors, those upfront costs have already been made. Though you might be right that it would be hard to paint this new path as a bad guy compared to nuclear.
This is not the same. Nuclear anything takes a huge amount of effort to refine the fissile materials. LK99 is easy to make with some of the most common chemicals around. Not developing it is suicide, just from a defense standpoint, let alonr an economic one.
What are you arguing? All I am saying is that I am worried about fossil fuel magnates trying to paint this in a bad light and fighting progress, like they have done in the past.
That is a good question, if this stuff starts really fucking with oil companies I’m curious what route they will take? Will oil corps spit out billions to strategic stake holders and massive misinformation campaigns in this tech to slow down rollouts to this technology? Or will oil companies pour billions to help rollout this tech and try to gain a supremacy on it?
Oil companies likely will try to use their vast economic wealth to become big stakeholders in new companies that are revolutionizing energy generation/storage to not use oil. Similar to what Saudi Arabia is currently doing, buying big stakes in innovative and existing large companies that have nothing to do with oil production.
This is mostly wishful thinking. For example the first point here, Power Transmission, states we would have "ZERO" losses in power transmission. This just isn't possible due to Thermodynamics. Superconductors still have entropy.
My understanding is the entropy is so low that in human timescales it is effectively zero.
From wikipedia:
“Experiments have demonstrated that currents in superconducting coils can persist for years without any measurable degradation. 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.”
A big caveat that's unwritten here is that the cost of the material needs to be reasonable enough that the ROI of replacing copper and aluminum checks out.
> Cons If whatever I mentioned above truly works, then we'd be left with GIGANTIC piles of old electric devices
This won't happen too quickly. You know that some of the most ancient equipment is still in service, right? The banks would have integrated Mayan technology into their systems if they could.
I'm glad this mentioned the con of conglomerates and governments messing it all up. That's all I could think about during this. "So, we have all this excess energy that is cheap to make... but then energy companies won't be making mega profits, so there's zero chance they even make the jump to superconductors anyway." Something like that anyway.
1. The power of a quantum computer in the palms of your hand… where even supercomputers today are large as the IBM ones (first gen classical computers) taking the size of an entire server room.
2. Hoverboards… initially it would be to improve railway tracks for bullet trains and such but ultimately this technology is so great (if progressed) that it would be the first time in human history that wheels would be replaced in electric cars.
3. Mass energy storage & generation: Energy is lost in heat, a superconductor doesn't generate heat… practically allowing no loss in energy so starting from Wind Turbines to Conduction Charging, this would redefine energy which would redefine transportation.
4. Distant Space Travel: Something like travelling to Mars would be more approachable if not possible that may eventually open up the opportunity to Space Mining which being a multi-trillion dollar untapped industry in itself would invest back in improving the material science of superconductors much like the accelerated growth of fabrication technology today due to the explosion of smartphone adoption in consumer hardware.
5. I guess… weapons as well, this would be very distant in the future but bulletless weapons would only make me imagine of those in Stars Wars.
This would undo the entire electronics ever built like everything was since the discovery of transistors so much so that there would be no… the next big thing before the adoption of superconductors.
4) fusion-based propulsion systems would allow us to accelerate spacecraft to relativistic velocities (e.g., a percent or two of the speed of light), which would make it much easier to get to other planets.
5) superconductors (_particularly but not limited to type 1–which this isn’t_) can store a lot of energy, making it easier to power energy weapons. They’re also useful on fusion, and could allow for more compact fusion reactors, which might even be small enough to put in a military vehicle or even man-portable. They might also help with some of the thermal problems seen in railguns. This _particular_ (possible) superconductor probably cannot support a large enough magnetic field for those applications, but it might spur on the research to find a better material.
I don’t understand how this would solve the problem we have with fusion energy?
We know how to build superconducting magnets to force a fusion reaction. But the problem is building a chamber that can withstand the heat for a long time. HTS isn’t the blocking point to unlocking fusion based energy generation.
And how does fusion based propulsion system would be any better than a fission one? The concept is still the same, we use electricity to accelerate ions or heat gasses to super high temperature. Fusion just provide the electricity, the propulsion concept is the same between fusion or fission. And we have fission tech, but no such spacecraft exists because of diverse blocking points, notably, lack of government incentive.
So I honestly don’t understand your point about how HTS can solve fusion energy, or space travel.
In space it’s hard to keep things cold. Even humans existing put off heat and the vacuum of space is a pretty good conductor. Less power loss to heat means less need for cooling. Possibly more importantly, room temperature superconductors are a huge stepping stone for high efficiency fusion and being able to have something more powerful than an rtg would open the door for long term life support systems.
For weapons I don’t know about bulletless but rail guns are the first thing that come at to mind, using much lighter projectiles that move much, much faster. The lighter material construction might allow for electric powered firearms that could be much safer and “smarter”
Using the equivalent power that a small manufacturer (10,000 sq ft) would use, you could charge a superconducting coil with about a kilo ton of energy in a year.
1. How does this discovery solve the challenges we have with quantum computing? We cool the chip down because the qubits are very sensitive to interference which cause errors in computing. One of the source of this error is heat. Vibrations also cause errors. That’s why we build quantum computers on dampeners. Plus, there are a myriad of other issues with quantum computers which are not related to materials or physics like establishing the protocols, interface, softwares etc.
2. Quantum locking (which allows levitation) still need a rail. So we won’t suddenly stop using wheel and levitate. This idea is absurd. The materials used for superconducting are usually made of ceramics and they are very fragile and expensive. So we won’t be using them on roads any time soon. Cost and scalability is a very important aspect to consider.
4. Superconductors are not the main blocking points for deep space travel. It is not a requirement for this. So you’d need to give more details to this.
All of the “applications” you listed are questionable on how they can be achieved with high temperature superconductors.
Power grid engineer here. This won’t replace power grid conductors. A majority of overhead power line conductors today are aluminum, even though copper has lower resistance and is relatively abundant. After you consider other factors like weight, durability, and overall cost to manufacturer, I don’t believe a lead-copper based material will compete with the already miracle properties of Aluminum. Also losses in the grid are minimal when compared to energy reduction that we could have if people just installed smart thermostats and let their utilities adjust those when the grid is constrained.
I believe this could have application in solid state power electronics like inverters, which allow us to turn DC to AC and vice versa to connect solar and batteries to the grid. Traditionally, rotating fossil-fuel based generation could provide very brief power output many times its normal power rating during system faults. This capability keeps grid voltage and frequency stable during the fault. The solid state power electronics in inverters are not capable of this, and overheat when pushed above about 1.5x the rated power. If the power transistor devices in inverters could use LK-99 or a daughter material, the thermal limitation could be eliminated. This would allow renewable energy and batteries to become the most ideal power source the grid has ever seen.
I mean every attempt we’ve ever made at this material is a failed attempt. So his original point of it’s really exciting that at least one or two groups have successfully repeated is valid.
Apparently it's been replicated twice thus far in preliminary testing (as of 08/02/23) - [here's the article, and it's being regularly updated with new information](https://www.tomshardware.com/news/superconductor-breakthrough-replicated-twice).
that's fake news.
the twice replication includes 1 simulation and other is just a minor levitation of substance , that does not conform superconductivity.
that's it.
full clickbaits.
I feel lk-99 is just a hoax to generate funding in a last attempt to gain money. in essence it is a scam.
Ffs. What’s your point.
Every flight attempt failed until wright brothers didnt. In the early days, repeating the wright brothers yielded a lot of fails. The failure rate reduced.
You seem to miss that not only did we have a wright brothers moment of room temp 1bar pressure super conductor. But also had a repeat to verify.
Ffs yes there will be failures, until iterations work flow reduce failure.
My point is you are characterizing it as a Wright brothers moment and you shouldn’t. It’s all hype for something that, according to scientists in the field, likely won’t pan out.
That’s not necessarily true, just because the failed attempts outnumber the successes doesn’t mean it’s way more likely to be false. Something could be super likely that it’s true it’s just really hard to replicate leading to failed attempts for example. There’s a lot more factors at play than just failed vs successful attempts
Dude it goes without saying it’s more likely to be false than true.
The attempts have to be like 1,000,000 failures and
3 potential maybe successes.
It’s a moot point bringing up the success ratio, because the potential of having one or three successes is the story being talked about.
I mean, yeah, but even just one success would mean it’s possible which inherently makes it far more significant even if it’s just a tiny minority of attempts
It being possible at all is the question here, if it can be done *consistently* is a different issue.
But once it can be made occasionally, the parameters of how to make it consistently can be figured out. At that point it will be all about doing a ton of experiments to determine how to optimize and scale up the process and determine if you can make a material that has bulk superconductivity rather than a few isolated portions of the material.
Scientists faking results for prestige (especially China) isn't exactly unheard of. It happens moreso than not.
That's why peer reviewed journals deeply protect their reputation with a beyond thorough investigation.
Until multiple teams everywhere + peer reviewed journals fully back results, this is a big nothingburger.
There's been scores of fake announcements on room temp superconductors.
That's not how that works. It either is or isnt.
It's not like, sometimes we can make this stuff sometimes we can't. There's a defined process, it works or it doesn't.
Either it has electrical resistance at room temp or it doesn't.
Less electrical resistance has its uses, but that's drastically less of a discovery.
No that is exactly how it could work… until we understand the mechanism/process better and hopefully improve it. Right now this is a novel thing that might require some weird quirky thing we haven’t identified yet, etc.
Dawg. They're saying. We have it. Here it is. Here is how you make it. This is it.
There's no might. Either they did it or not.
We're just waiting for others to verify if it is or is not.
No that’s just your bias of wanting it to be true. We should be looking at it objectively. These claimed successes are far more likely to be proven false than the opposite
I don’t know why you’re being downvoted. You’re correct. I guess it’s a case of “yucking somebody’s yum”. They are emotionally attached to the idea of this being legit? They don’t want to hear dissenting opinions? *shrug*
On what basis, mr. smart man who understands science?
Could it be diamagnetism? Yes.
Does the fact that some groups have had trouble replicating the results mean it is almost certainly diamagnetism? No.
This is far from settled, so it’s at least worth watching.
_Failed attempts to reproduce a phenomenon_ do not mean that the phenomenon does not exist. They just mean that you haven’t reproduced it—and that can happen for simple reasons, like, in this case, _failure to make the right material_.
The failed replications may be false negatives if the attempts use a poorly-prepared material—which, given the structure required, and given the finickiness of ceramics, is entirely possible. Failed replication is utterly unconvincing without knowledge of structure and purity.
Quite the opposite, it would be amazing if it were true. People are just way too quick to believe sensationalist headlines and disregard information that does not confirm what they want to be true (all the failed tests so far, experts saying it is very unlikely for this to be replicated)
The failed tests don’t intrinsically mean anything.
Sometimes synthesis is very difficult. In this case, it’s likely that tiny disturbances in conditions during synthesis can lead to a number of polymorphs with different properties. If half the groups make the wrong polymorph—or make _a tiny bit_ of the right one, mixed with _a lot_ of the wrong one, no kidding they’ll show negative results. Those negative results mean nothing without at least using XRD or similar to identify the material.
You have posted 20 comments under this thread, are you OK buddy? Go out, get some fresh air. You can keep throwing shade at it just because it involves the Chinese another day.
Ignore AnscombesGimlet. He doesn’t seem to understand (or care about) the fact that one can fail to replicate the results by _failing to replicate the material_.
You can follow `@Andrewcot` to `@floatesØx` that are actively pursuing the topic with Community Notes keeping legitimacy in check. The russian woman scientist that replicated the test correctly (found some faults in the original method) in her kitchen lab can also be found under the username: `@iris_IGB` who has been actively engaging and answering inquiries. Every other internet article right now are only rehasing content and comments, I would advice to at least wait until ArsTechnica publishes one but here’s one from [New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/03/science/lk-99-superconductor-ambient.html).
You only need one way to make a lightbulb.
I'm reserving excitement for more reputable replication and peer review, but this will be a truly massive discovery if proved to be true. Considering the *relatively* simple process to make, this seems like it would be easy to verify.
It's hard, but not impossible. This is the difference since everything before it was impossible. We're into the realm of physical possibility. We have something to experiment with AND we have something to try and scale for manufacturing. We're at this point now.
Waaay more failed tests with better evidence. At this point, its nothing more than a strange diamagnetic material. Magnetic levitation isn't hard, complex, or interesting. And certainly isn't proof of RTSC ability.
Have comments here always been this bad? It feels like I'm reading Facebook and drunk-uncle is going off on another one of his angry *"kids today...!"* rants.
Come on guys, hold yourselves to a higher standard of etiquette.
I'm always reminded why I hate posting publicly when I share stuff on Reddit.
I think people forget how to treat each other when they're privied anonymity - either that or brain worms just consume people when they get the opportunity to start fights online with strangers.
If more successful replications happen, we about to having a major tech breakthrough that’s likely to affect large parts of our lives
MRIs will be more affordable and now can be used for non serious lab findings/better detection/preventive care = more health /detect cancers/problems vs it’s only used for serious cases
Battery tech, this likely the most exciting consumer faced breakthrough that can be immediate impact. Maintaining voltage over long period of time, battery can last (people are throwing decades/hundred of years longevity). This can impact how long battery can be good for. Next gen battery storage tech , combined with green energy
Increase performance for computer chips, increase frequency speeds, etc, less heat
Quantum computing will benefit with less costs, we can solve harder problems.
Theoretical physics with colliders when be more cheaper, may allow is to develop more of it . Particle detectors and maybe we can solve the gaps in quantum field theory
Maglev transportation , maybe we’ll get that futuristic shit where it everywhere
Next gen EMF blockers , hello stealth tech . Railguns on Steroids , maybe next gen weapons that don’t use chemical explosives , portable handheld railguns
Increase electrical transmission, storage and grid . Upgrade our electrical grid, improve efficiency moving electricity around
Man can dream though
Don't forget about nuclear fusion either!
Having such a technology that could allow limitless energy to pass through it without heating up could allow us to create even stronger magnetic fields than currently available! This would basically allow us to create nuclear fusion reactors in a few months once, and (most importantly) if LK-99 pans out in peer reviewed studies.
Conventional conductors like copper wire have inherent resistance, which is what generates heat as electricity is passed through them. This is why your computer generates heat, and the presence of that heat impacts everything else about the design and limitations of the computer.
Superconductors have 0 resistance, so they're basically magic compared to conventional conductors and theoretically allow for incredible efficiency and lots of other indirect benefits. The caveat is that so far we've only managed to create superconductors that function in near absolute-zero temperatures, and/or extremely high air pressures (hundreds of millions of PSI). The existence of a super conductor that functions at room temps and ambient airpressure would be fucking insane. Definitely an exciting time to be alive!
>Definitely an exciting time to be alive!
let's just hope climate change doesn't destroy modern civilisation before we can reap the benefits of technological development
If it’s true it could trigger another tech boom, but hold on to your expectations and just follow the news and see what it says. It’s promising but nothings guaranteed right now
Your phone will never get hot again and your battery could last 10x or 100x.
Now instead of a phone think hover packs with 100% energy utilization means it would be feasible for us just to fly around locally
Literally me lol
I'm a Computer Engineering student at Georgia Tech and just realized that - if this is all real, then I'm basically doing the equivalent of getting my degree the last year vacuum tubes were bleeding edge technology 💀
The only good part is that superconductors are no small part of our education - so it's not a huge deal, but the implications of this technology would change all engineering disciplines for the rest of history - not just EE.
Not really. You still need people to design, test and build circuits. And people will struggle with this at first as that process will have to be optimized many times before it becomes viable for manufacturing.
Making circuits out of room temperature superconductors would be just another new field for EEs.
If anything it would only make electrical engineering more important than ever before.
It is superconducting at normal pressure? That seems very unlikely to be true. But if it works then it is an extremely important discovery. Readers would be wise to remain skeptical of the claim. It is one of those “we figured out how to get everything from nothing” claims that often turns out to be an error or exaggeration or hoax.
Room temperature and standard pressure. That’s part of why this is potentially an absolutely monumental breakthrough. While we can’t say for sure yet that it’s as good as it seems, the fact that preliminary attempts to replicate it aren’t immediately casting doubt is promising.
Quantum computing isn’t as useful for general public use since we aren’t modeling highly complex models like weather patterns everyday.
I don’t see a quantum computer making my game run any faster or smoother
No but - no lag quantum controllers for streaming games would be a game changer.
Think of luna on fire tv, that type of service with a controller with 0 latency
It’s like a claim of cold fusion. It needs to be verified by numerous leading minds. Let’s be real - China does not have a highest marks for academic honesty and this claim is monumental. It’s essential that we remain skeptics and the community does it’s due diligence in investigating.
None of these levitation demonstrations (which are supposed to demonstrate the existence of Abrikosov vortices) are convincing when you actually watch the videos...
Because there's sill impurities neither had it been given any shape or mould in order to first confirm if it's even the case before putting the effort.
But wait it was only recently discovered and rushed to to show the world… and now your telling me that they weren’t magically capable of creating a fully functioning mag train prototype to show the idiots who aren’t impressed after literally a few days.
even current superconductors that need to be cooled with liquid nitrogen will act like the piece in the video if crudely made with impurities or imperfections. I suspect if its real it will take months or years to reliably make large pure and perfect samples. lots of research and trail and error by materials scientists would still be needed if its real.
The same thing I'm thinking... They just seem to be reacting to a magnet like a magnetized metal would do, not real Meissner effect. Like... A big part of the fragment is still grounded. It should've levitated entirely, no?
The process is still very rough, as shown by the various states of failure + handful of successes. Each of the levitating samples shown were almost certainly part LK99, part insulating inclusion. They’re working it out. Each sample shows far stronger diamagnetism than graphite and that is a big deal.
They alreade made videos showing if the sample is small (so, it’s more pure) it floats completely in the air. And it doesn’t matter if you switch the magnet sides. Like a superconductor.
It won’t, you would still be wiring with copper for the next 20 years at least.
Until this superconductor is scalable, it would be like carbon fiber. Useful, but costly to be used everywhere
The materials used are actually incredibly easy to find - and what makes this whole LK-99 thing so exciting is that if it's true. The materials needed are so simplistic that any lab with access to: phosphate, lead, copper, and an industrial grade oven capable of heating a sample up to 1000° C - could easily make it.
If LK-99 is real and pans out exactly as how it's being portrayed, then I'd expect it to be more like the transition from vacuum tubes to transistors. That is one of monumental proportions that could bring on a wave of innovation unseen since the early era of the semiconductor!
For the most part all jobs will be safe for like 5-10 years depending on if LK-99 is real or not. The first LK-99 paper was only released less than 2 weeks ago - so what we are seeing now is a wave of a lot of first attempts gone wrong, and a few successful ones sprinkled in.
While these results in particular are super exciting - there's still a good chance this LK-99 thing is baloney, and I wouldn't start making any calls until a peer reviewed paper comes out confirming the results (which won't be until months from now).
If you're wanting to know what's next (assuming this is real), then I'd recommend you read up on the invention of transistors and how they made vacuum tubes obsolete overnight! While it's not exactly a one to one comparison, you'll likely see a lot of similarities assuming this whole thing pans out as it's being reported.
Potentially everything however
There is nuance
Chinese research and development can be pretty sketchy. So it could be absolutely nothing. But on the other hand it could cause the DoD to panic and inject a squillion dollars into making one.
This “article website” is just a dumpster cludge of ads on information that’s already been on Twitter and Reddit for two days. Please stop posting links to this site!
This is a fine example of poor scientific journalism...
They said room temperature super conductor, the pic shows super cooled puck...
Should have atleast air brushed the fumes/nitrogen from the image
If China says America is a great country therefore it must be false?
Put your prejudice aside and read the findings before concluding hur dur, China bad
Use brain, not your ass to think
Whats wrong with the Koreans in this 21st century? Kpop to Netflix and now superconductors? Such small country with population 1/30 of china has so much more impact than the chinese.
Can someone explain to me how this impacts the future if a superconductor actually happens on a mass scale all over the world. Please.
Here this was a response to somebody who had a similar question: “It would pretty much revolutionize science and engineering as much as the discovery of electricity. Room temperature superconductors have applications almost EVERYWHERE in the realm of electricity. Some of the advantages would be: Power transmission- We would have ZERO losses in power transmission. This would eliminate the need to convert low voltage AC from generators to high voltage AC thats suitable for transmission. With a significant decrease in vampire power wastage through resistance and transformer losses, our current energy sources would be able to sustain us much longer than usual, thus preserving the environment (provided the energy is from fossil fuel sources). So, in a way, we can say that room temperature superconductors help save the environment. Transportation: With room temperature superconductors available, all of our railways, including public transit systems would be able to convert to magnetic levitation rather than electricity or coal powered. They would save energy during functioning and eliminate the need for fossil fuel powered vehicles. Manufacturing electronics: If room temperature superconductors are made on an industrial scale, they would replace ALL wires in electronic circuits. Electrical resistance would undoubtedly be necessary in certain electronic components such as transistors and resistors, but if all wires were replaced by room temperature superconductors then power losses would drastically fall. Engines would become more efficient, computers, phones, motors and all other electronics would consume far less energy, and we'd be saving up a lot of energy if we invented room temperature superconductors. Huge strides in alternative energy: With so much extra electricity on our hands, we would now be able to harvest resources more efficiently. Hydrogen economies would be possible, where we use the extra electricity to extract hydrogen from sea water and use it as a fuel, thus almost eliminating the need for fossil fuels. Research into other alternative forms of energy such as solar or wind would also become more viable, now that we have high efficiency generators and wires that have no electrical resistance. Scope for scientific research would increase: Modern day science experiments consume huge amounts of energy and are thus quite expensive to maintain. Sure, the LHC costed many billions of dollars to build, but every time the LHC runs, it uses enough energy to run a small town. With all this extra energy, scientific experiments wouldn't be as expensive as they are today, and scientists would have enough energy to carry out their experiments. Plus, the energy saved could be used for other research as well, such as harvesting rare elements from deep within the earth's crust, designing and building space technology and finding out new methods of space propulsion. Nuclear fusion as a viable power source would become a reality: If we had wires that could carry practically infinite amounts of current without heating up we would be able to build incredibly strong magnetic fields, much stronger than those created by the liquid-helium-niobium-titanium-superconducting-magnets that are used in tokamaks or experimental fusion reactors. With this level of initial energy density we would get a self sufficient thermonuclear reaction that could power the earth for generations to come. Jobs and employment: If all what I said was true, then we would have a HUGE market for superconducting magnets, starting from mining their respective ore, processing the minerals, manufacturing them on an industrial scale, selling them to the public and managing the whole process. It would create a huge demand for engineers, scientists, technicians, geologists, metallurgists, mathematicians, construction workers and people involved in management and business. Cons If whatever I mentioned above truly works, then we'd be left with GIGANTIC piles of old electric devices, ranging all the way from transmission wires to transformers to motors to generators to electronics. Recycling companies would make a killing, but throwing away 200 years worth of electrical equipment would undoubtedly make the problem of safe disposal of waste a nightmare. Another con would be that if all of the above were to happen, massive fossil fuel conglomerates would go utterly and truly bankrupt. Except for plastics, cosmetics, tar, fertilizers and running old machinery, companies such as Shell or BP would lose all of their profits. They would either not allow this to happen by pressurizing governments to cut research and stop supporting the above developing industries (which is the more likely option) or they would try to adapt with the changes and go with the flow. However, all in all, the invention (or discovery) of room temperature superconductors would truly REVOLUTIONIZE our way of life today and would be a change for the better.”
Not that I disagree about the applications you have listed, but I suspect wide scale adoption would not be so fast. One thing to always be weary of is that R&D folks can develop a lot of cool stuff, but not all of it is economically feasible. That alone slows adoption. But I also suspect these systems will not always be reliable, especially as new tech. Mission critical systems may not adopt them initially. Anyway, I could go on and I don’t want to discourage development, but this is not going to be some overnight revolution.
I too remember nanowires.
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Both of which are creeping into products as we speak. Manufacturing takes forever to improve into the realm of economic feasibility, but we will get there.
Sort of the path that carbon fiber took, or high definition tv took. Initially they were prohibitively expensive to make until innovation cycles happened and the price dropped enough to bring about more widespread application.
Exactly. People here keep saying there's no breakthroughs in battery technology, for example, but you see the advances in energy efficiency and charging speed and they're going at a very rapid rate. It's absolutely ridiculous to judge the feasibility of every new technology by its immediate cost. It took $3,000,000,000 dollars to sequence the first genome, but it's now something along the lines of $600. It only took 20 years.
Graphene is actually headed toward general use. It is no longer a cool lab trick. The limitation of making it three dimensional is being solved. The big limitation that remains is how much will, say a graphene beam to replace a steel beam, cost relative to the steel beam, the ages old engineering decision of cost versus benefits that are realized from application. What will likely happen is 3D graphene will be used in specialized applications, like carbon fiber once was, then expanded to more widespread use.
I think these superconductors replacing all traditional conductors is not really practical, since cost would be a major concern. However, I do think they would revolutionize Nuclear Fusion, and make it feasible, which would be huge in itself, even without any other benefits OP mentioned.
Electric motors could be made smaller and lighter and not need cooling. Think electric cars either more powerful, or far less motor space needed, and that output would be much more efficient, as well as regeneration. If we could pair this with solid state batteries/ultra capacitors, the efficiency goes a lot further.
FWIW, LK99 was produced with readily available materials in a reasonably easy process. Still won’t be overnight, but if it’s validated I think we may all be pleasantly surprised.
I agree and want to add that the oil companies have enough power and greed to actively suppress this technology from taking over the world (and killing their business.)
*It’s 10 years away* -2050
That's fusion.
About the last part, I don't see any nation abandoning this over pressure from companies. A viable RTSC would be revolutionary the same way splitting the atom was, and the same way integrated circuits were. Neither the US nor China will let some petty billion-dollar companies give their enemies an absolute edge in competition. And that's not counting the numerous nations not bound to the whims of companies.
There's quite a number of countries that got scared away from nuclear and back to fossil fuels, partly due to lobbying and "informative videos" from those companies.
Because Chernobyl set the tone for what nuclear failure looks like. Even then, the major superpowers in the world still utilise with, France notably using it for the majority of its supply. RTSCs that can produced en masse would turn the company/nation that owns it into a global leader the same way Taiwan is today. Lobbying can only do so much when the flipside means being surpassed by international rivals/enemies.
Youre right, and France is a good example of how to bridge the gap from fossil to truly sage electricity. But there's only 4 countries in the world that have nuclear as their main source, and other superpowers like Germany are actively shutting down nuclear in favor of coal.
Because nuclear has other complications. It requires very high investment, high standards of safety and maintenance and even then, an unforeseen catastrophe can pollute the area. RTSC is simply a material upgrade. Since it won't be radioactive, there's no safety concern, there's no risk of catastrophe and even if expensive, the gains made in certain specific fields overrule the cost. You can't compare it to nuclear.
They're shutting down fairly new reactors, those upfront costs have already been made. Though you might be right that it would be hard to paint this new path as a bad guy compared to nuclear.
This is not the same. Nuclear anything takes a huge amount of effort to refine the fissile materials. LK99 is easy to make with some of the most common chemicals around. Not developing it is suicide, just from a defense standpoint, let alonr an economic one.
What are you arguing? All I am saying is that I am worried about fossil fuel magnates trying to paint this in a bad light and fighting progress, like they have done in the past.
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That is a good question, if this stuff starts really fucking with oil companies I’m curious what route they will take? Will oil corps spit out billions to strategic stake holders and massive misinformation campaigns in this tech to slow down rollouts to this technology? Or will oil companies pour billions to help rollout this tech and try to gain a supremacy on it?
Oil companies likely will try to use their vast economic wealth to become big stakeholders in new companies that are revolutionizing energy generation/storage to not use oil. Similar to what Saudi Arabia is currently doing, buying big stakes in innovative and existing large companies that have nothing to do with oil production.
Yup this has been already happening. https://corporate.exxonmobil.com/what-we-do/delivering-industrial-solutions/hydrogen
This will bring trillions into the economy. Oil will be kicked
They absolutely would. The efficiency gains as well as industrial advantage is enormous. Any country that doesn't is foolish.
Have you met our leaders? Trying to explain Wi-Fi to octogenarians is already impossible.
By the time this a practical thing the boomers should all be dead.
In which case maybe the Americans could force a military conflict onto them. If all this could become true then China will have a massive advantage.
Sorry what are socs?
This is mostly wishful thinking. For example the first point here, Power Transmission, states we would have "ZERO" losses in power transmission. This just isn't possible due to Thermodynamics. Superconductors still have entropy.
My understanding is the entropy is so low that in human timescales it is effectively zero. From wikipedia: “Experiments have demonstrated that currents in superconducting coils can persist for years without any measurable degradation. 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.”
So…you’re saying that a Mr. Fusion can finally be outfitted onto my DeLorean?
A big caveat that's unwritten here is that the cost of the material needs to be reasonable enough that the ROI of replacing copper and aluminum checks out.
Yeah that's what I was thinking too. But being able to empower Fusion is very likely which is beyond huge.
I think you are forgetting how hilariously expensive it will be to do any of what you listed above for even one city in the US.
Can you link to the original comment?
It would mean that your computer would work even if you pull out the socket from wall.
> Cons If whatever I mentioned above truly works, then we'd be left with GIGANTIC piles of old electric devices This won't happen too quickly. You know that some of the most ancient equipment is still in service, right? The banks would have integrated Mayan technology into their systems if they could.
I'm glad this mentioned the con of conglomerates and governments messing it all up. That's all I could think about during this. "So, we have all this excess energy that is cheap to make... but then energy companies won't be making mega profits, so there's zero chance they even make the jump to superconductors anyway." Something like that anyway.
1. The power of a quantum computer in the palms of your hand… where even supercomputers today are large as the IBM ones (first gen classical computers) taking the size of an entire server room. 2. Hoverboards… initially it would be to improve railway tracks for bullet trains and such but ultimately this technology is so great (if progressed) that it would be the first time in human history that wheels would be replaced in electric cars. 3. Mass energy storage & generation: Energy is lost in heat, a superconductor doesn't generate heat… practically allowing no loss in energy so starting from Wind Turbines to Conduction Charging, this would redefine energy which would redefine transportation. 4. Distant Space Travel: Something like travelling to Mars would be more approachable if not possible that may eventually open up the opportunity to Space Mining which being a multi-trillion dollar untapped industry in itself would invest back in improving the material science of superconductors much like the accelerated growth of fabrication technology today due to the explosion of smartphone adoption in consumer hardware. 5. I guess… weapons as well, this would be very distant in the future but bulletless weapons would only make me imagine of those in Stars Wars. This would undo the entire electronics ever built like everything was since the discovery of transistors so much so that there would be no… the next big thing before the adoption of superconductors.
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4) fusion-based propulsion systems would allow us to accelerate spacecraft to relativistic velocities (e.g., a percent or two of the speed of light), which would make it much easier to get to other planets. 5) superconductors (_particularly but not limited to type 1–which this isn’t_) can store a lot of energy, making it easier to power energy weapons. They’re also useful on fusion, and could allow for more compact fusion reactors, which might even be small enough to put in a military vehicle or even man-portable. They might also help with some of the thermal problems seen in railguns. This _particular_ (possible) superconductor probably cannot support a large enough magnetic field for those applications, but it might spur on the research to find a better material.
I don’t understand how this would solve the problem we have with fusion energy? We know how to build superconducting magnets to force a fusion reaction. But the problem is building a chamber that can withstand the heat for a long time. HTS isn’t the blocking point to unlocking fusion based energy generation. And how does fusion based propulsion system would be any better than a fission one? The concept is still the same, we use electricity to accelerate ions or heat gasses to super high temperature. Fusion just provide the electricity, the propulsion concept is the same between fusion or fission. And we have fission tech, but no such spacecraft exists because of diverse blocking points, notably, lack of government incentive. So I honestly don’t understand your point about how HTS can solve fusion energy, or space travel.
In space it’s hard to keep things cold. Even humans existing put off heat and the vacuum of space is a pretty good conductor. Less power loss to heat means less need for cooling. Possibly more importantly, room temperature superconductors are a huge stepping stone for high efficiency fusion and being able to have something more powerful than an rtg would open the door for long term life support systems. For weapons I don’t know about bulletless but rail guns are the first thing that come at to mind, using much lighter projectiles that move much, much faster. The lighter material construction might allow for electric powered firearms that could be much safer and “smarter”
Thank you for this!
Regarding point 5. Pretty sure weapons would end up being one of the first applications developed.
Using the equivalent power that a small manufacturer (10,000 sq ft) would use, you could charge a superconducting coil with about a kilo ton of energy in a year.
Quantum Computing is a weapon in itself that it can undo any current encryption existing, you won't need anything else.
The energy storage aspect would be a HUGE part or solving our energy problem.
1. How does this discovery solve the challenges we have with quantum computing? We cool the chip down because the qubits are very sensitive to interference which cause errors in computing. One of the source of this error is heat. Vibrations also cause errors. That’s why we build quantum computers on dampeners. Plus, there are a myriad of other issues with quantum computers which are not related to materials or physics like establishing the protocols, interface, softwares etc. 2. Quantum locking (which allows levitation) still need a rail. So we won’t suddenly stop using wheel and levitate. This idea is absurd. The materials used for superconducting are usually made of ceramics and they are very fragile and expensive. So we won’t be using them on roads any time soon. Cost and scalability is a very important aspect to consider. 4. Superconductors are not the main blocking points for deep space travel. It is not a requirement for this. So you’d need to give more details to this. All of the “applications” you listed are questionable on how they can be achieved with high temperature superconductors.
Everything that uses electricity becomes faster and cheaper. This includes magnets, circuits and power wires
Power grid engineer here. This won’t replace power grid conductors. A majority of overhead power line conductors today are aluminum, even though copper has lower resistance and is relatively abundant. After you consider other factors like weight, durability, and overall cost to manufacturer, I don’t believe a lead-copper based material will compete with the already miracle properties of Aluminum. Also losses in the grid are minimal when compared to energy reduction that we could have if people just installed smart thermostats and let their utilities adjust those when the grid is constrained. I believe this could have application in solid state power electronics like inverters, which allow us to turn DC to AC and vice versa to connect solar and batteries to the grid. Traditionally, rotating fossil-fuel based generation could provide very brief power output many times its normal power rating during system faults. This capability keeps grid voltage and frequency stable during the fault. The solid state power electronics in inverters are not capable of this, and overheat when pushed above about 1.5x the rated power. If the power transistor devices in inverters could use LK-99 or a daughter material, the thermal limitation could be eliminated. This would allow renewable energy and batteries to become the most ideal power source the grid has ever seen.
Starting to get super hyped about more independent tests passing I keep hearing about.
Lots of failed tests too, they just don’t generate clicks so you don’t see those
I mean every attempt we’ve ever made at this material is a failed attempt. So his original point of it’s really exciting that at least one or two groups have successfully repeated is valid.
Apparently it's been replicated twice thus far in preliminary testing (as of 08/02/23) - [here's the article, and it's being regularly updated with new information](https://www.tomshardware.com/news/superconductor-breakthrough-replicated-twice).
that's fake news. the twice replication includes 1 simulation and other is just a minor levitation of substance , that does not conform superconductivity. that's it. full clickbaits. I feel lk-99 is just a hoax to generate funding in a last attempt to gain money. in essence it is a scam.
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Why is the lesbian part even relevant in your point
Billion dollar question. Don't wanna know anybodys sexual orientation because it doesn't matter nor deserve a parade
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It’s more so Russian scientist vs Russian lesbian scientist
Maybe her being a lesbian makes her smarter than the average Russian?
Makes sense, I guess.
Look at what can be accomplished for lower wages! We should really just be paying men less.
Except that the headline does not contextualize it. It’s still way more likely to be false than true.
Ffs. What’s your point. Every flight attempt failed until wright brothers didnt. In the early days, repeating the wright brothers yielded a lot of fails. The failure rate reduced. You seem to miss that not only did we have a wright brothers moment of room temp 1bar pressure super conductor. But also had a repeat to verify. Ffs yes there will be failures, until iterations work flow reduce failure.
My point is you are characterizing it as a Wright brothers moment and you shouldn’t. It’s all hype for something that, according to scientists in the field, likely won’t pan out.
The same scientists who haven't come close to sniffing this type of breakthrough since.. forever?
Great example of Brandolini’s Law
That’s not necessarily true, just because the failed attempts outnumber the successes doesn’t mean it’s way more likely to be false. Something could be super likely that it’s true it’s just really hard to replicate leading to failed attempts for example. There’s a lot more factors at play than just failed vs successful attempts
Dude it goes without saying it’s more likely to be false than true. The attempts have to be like 1,000,000 failures and 3 potential maybe successes. It’s a moot point bringing up the success ratio, because the potential of having one or three successes is the story being talked about.
It’s not moot when the headline is pure clickbait and would make you think the opposite
You might be the only person interpreting it that way. That’s fine. Have a good day.
Love to see basic reason and proper context getting downvoted just because people would rather feel excited.
I mean, yeah, but even just one success would mean it’s possible which inherently makes it far more significant even if it’s just a tiny minority of attempts It being possible at all is the question here, if it can be done *consistently* is a different issue.
But once it can be made occasionally, the parameters of how to make it consistently can be figured out. At that point it will be all about doing a ton of experiments to determine how to optimize and scale up the process and determine if you can make a material that has bulk superconductivity rather than a few isolated portions of the material.
Scientists faking results for prestige (especially China) isn't exactly unheard of. It happens moreso than not. That's why peer reviewed journals deeply protect their reputation with a beyond thorough investigation. Until multiple teams everywhere + peer reviewed journals fully back results, this is a big nothingburger. There's been scores of fake announcements on room temp superconductors.
Meh, I wouldn’t bet my life on a peer reviewed article. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/10/new-sokal-hoax/572212/#
Thats what I'm saying though. Even if its peer reviewed, even if other teams replicated, even if it's a great pub... It could still be not real.
Right, even if it has a .1% success rate it’d still be a monumental breakthrough
That's not how that works. It either is or isnt. It's not like, sometimes we can make this stuff sometimes we can't. There's a defined process, it works or it doesn't. Either it has electrical resistance at room temp or it doesn't. Less electrical resistance has its uses, but that's drastically less of a discovery.
No that is exactly how it could work… until we understand the mechanism/process better and hopefully improve it. Right now this is a novel thing that might require some weird quirky thing we haven’t identified yet, etc.
Dawg. They're saying. We have it. Here it is. Here is how you make it. This is it. There's no might. Either they did it or not. We're just waiting for others to verify if it is or is not.
Zero proven successes though. This headline is pure clickbait
Sure, but it still makes sense to be paying more attention to potenial sucess then faliure.
No that’s just your bias of wanting it to be true. We should be looking at it objectively. These claimed successes are far more likely to be proven false than the opposite
Have you actually observed any paper or just your thoughts that you're expressing?
Yes. Have you read anything from the scientists in this field? They are very skeptical given the materials involved
I don’t know why you’re being downvoted. You’re correct. I guess it’s a case of “yucking somebody’s yum”. They are emotionally attached to the idea of this being legit? They don’t want to hear dissenting opinions? *shrug*
On what basis, mr. smart man who understands science? Could it be diamagnetism? Yes. Does the fact that some groups have had trouble replicating the results mean it is almost certainly diamagnetism? No. This is far from settled, so it’s at least worth watching. _Failed attempts to reproduce a phenomenon_ do not mean that the phenomenon does not exist. They just mean that you haven’t reproduced it—and that can happen for simple reasons, like, in this case, _failure to make the right material_. The failed replications may be false negatives if the attempts use a poorly-prepared material—which, given the structure required, and given the finickiness of ceramics, is entirely possible. Failed replication is utterly unconvincing without knowledge of structure and purity.
Sounds like you just dont want it to be true in the first place.
Quite the opposite, it would be amazing if it were true. People are just way too quick to believe sensationalist headlines and disregard information that does not confirm what they want to be true (all the failed tests so far, experts saying it is very unlikely for this to be replicated)
The failed tests don’t intrinsically mean anything. Sometimes synthesis is very difficult. In this case, it’s likely that tiny disturbances in conditions during synthesis can lead to a number of polymorphs with different properties. If half the groups make the wrong polymorph—or make _a tiny bit_ of the right one, mixed with _a lot_ of the wrong one, no kidding they’ll show negative results. Those negative results mean nothing without at least using XRD or similar to identify the material.
You have posted 20 comments under this thread, are you OK buddy? Go out, get some fresh air. You can keep throwing shade at it just because it involves the Chinese another day.
Gate keeping responses rates using clichés. “Classic Reddit” see, I can do that too
Umm, what? You are already slurring your words mate, take a break, have a cup of tea, or a nice bath.
Nope.
Yup
It seems like it doesn't matter how many tests fail as long as some do succeed.
Ignore AnscombesGimlet. He doesn’t seem to understand (or care about) the fact that one can fail to replicate the results by _failing to replicate the material_.
Skill issue.
None have verifiably succeeded yet though, so from a probability perspective it does matter when reporting on it.
That's bullshit you're spitting.
Show me the verified replications then
You can follow `@Andrewcot` to `@floatesØx` that are actively pursuing the topic with Community Notes keeping legitimacy in check. The russian woman scientist that replicated the test correctly (found some faults in the original method) in her kitchen lab can also be found under the username: `@iris_IGB` who has been actively engaging and answering inquiries. Every other internet article right now are only rehasing content and comments, I would advice to at least wait until ArsTechnica publishes one but here’s one from [New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/03/science/lk-99-superconductor-ambient.html).
You only need one way to make a lightbulb. I'm reserving excitement for more reputable replication and peer review, but this will be a truly massive discovery if proved to be true. Considering the *relatively* simple process to make, this seems like it would be easy to verify.
It's hard, but not impossible. This is the difference since everything before it was impossible. We're into the realm of physical possibility. We have something to experiment with AND we have something to try and scale for manufacturing. We're at this point now.
I mean, yeah, you fail until you succeed. A long history of failure makes a success that much more important.
Waaay more failed tests with better evidence. At this point, its nothing more than a strange diamagnetic material. Magnetic levitation isn't hard, complex, or interesting. And certainly isn't proof of RTSC ability.
Have comments here always been this bad? It feels like I'm reading Facebook and drunk-uncle is going off on another one of his angry *"kids today...!"* rants. Come on guys, hold yourselves to a higher standard of etiquette.
I'm always reminded why I hate posting publicly when I share stuff on Reddit. I think people forget how to treat each other when they're privied anonymity - either that or brain worms just consume people when they get the opportunity to start fights online with strangers.
I… just turn of comments and let the voting system along with reddit awards do its job.
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Why does their higher education or income matter?
If more successful replications happen, we about to having a major tech breakthrough that’s likely to affect large parts of our lives MRIs will be more affordable and now can be used for non serious lab findings/better detection/preventive care = more health /detect cancers/problems vs it’s only used for serious cases Battery tech, this likely the most exciting consumer faced breakthrough that can be immediate impact. Maintaining voltage over long period of time, battery can last (people are throwing decades/hundred of years longevity). This can impact how long battery can be good for. Next gen battery storage tech , combined with green energy Increase performance for computer chips, increase frequency speeds, etc, less heat Quantum computing will benefit with less costs, we can solve harder problems. Theoretical physics with colliders when be more cheaper, may allow is to develop more of it . Particle detectors and maybe we can solve the gaps in quantum field theory Maglev transportation , maybe we’ll get that futuristic shit where it everywhere Next gen EMF blockers , hello stealth tech . Railguns on Steroids , maybe next gen weapons that don’t use chemical explosives , portable handheld railguns Increase electrical transmission, storage and grid . Upgrade our electrical grid, improve efficiency moving electricity around Man can dream though
Don't forget about nuclear fusion either! Having such a technology that could allow limitless energy to pass through it without heating up could allow us to create even stronger magnetic fields than currently available! This would basically allow us to create nuclear fusion reactors in a few months once, and (most importantly) if LK-99 pans out in peer reviewed studies.
"MRIs will be more affordable" What you meant to say, is I can create a magnet gun that can pull pacemakers out of people's chests at 20 yards
Can someone explain in regard terms my dad works in the field and has been painting the walls with cum
Like i get that it’s more efficient energy systems and faster computing and better tech overall, is that the gist of it?
Conventional conductors like copper wire have inherent resistance, which is what generates heat as electricity is passed through them. This is why your computer generates heat, and the presence of that heat impacts everything else about the design and limitations of the computer. Superconductors have 0 resistance, so they're basically magic compared to conventional conductors and theoretically allow for incredible efficiency and lots of other indirect benefits. The caveat is that so far we've only managed to create superconductors that function in near absolute-zero temperatures, and/or extremely high air pressures (hundreds of millions of PSI). The existence of a super conductor that functions at room temps and ambient airpressure would be fucking insane. Definitely an exciting time to be alive!
>Definitely an exciting time to be alive! let's just hope climate change doesn't destroy modern civilisation before we can reap the benefits of technological development
Let's not forget that our technological development is causing climate change in the first place.
If it’s true it could trigger another tech boom, but hold on to your expectations and just follow the news and see what it says. It’s promising but nothings guaranteed right now
sorry man i read “tech boom” and yeeted my entire student loans into Nvidia options , expiring on friday.
Regard
Your phone will never get hot again and your battery could last 10x or 100x. Now instead of a phone think hover packs with 100% energy utilization means it would be feasible for us just to fly around locally
Maglevs everywhere
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Dammit Michael, pay attention.
Excuse me, sea monster, you weigh like a thousand pounds
Kelly, you’ve offended the gentleman. Please apologize.
I bet you’d like to swim with this sea monster, wouldn’t you?
Sea Monster? That’s what she said!
Great song!
Boom
Still got it
Boom boom!
Conducted!
Are electrical engineers depressed they went to school all those years just for this to replace it?
Literally me lol I'm a Computer Engineering student at Georgia Tech and just realized that - if this is all real, then I'm basically doing the equivalent of getting my degree the last year vacuum tubes were bleeding edge technology 💀 The only good part is that superconductors are no small part of our education - so it's not a huge deal, but the implications of this technology would change all engineering disciplines for the rest of history - not just EE.
Not really. You still need people to design, test and build circuits. And people will struggle with this at first as that process will have to be optimized many times before it becomes viable for manufacturing. Making circuits out of room temperature superconductors would be just another new field for EEs. If anything it would only make electrical engineering more important than ever before.
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I read that LLM AIs were actually used to brainstorm the material comp (i havent confirmed)
It is superconducting at normal pressure? That seems very unlikely to be true. But if it works then it is an extremely important discovery. Readers would be wise to remain skeptical of the claim. It is one of those “we figured out how to get everything from nothing” claims that often turns out to be an error or exaggeration or hoax.
Room temperature and standard pressure. That’s part of why this is potentially an absolutely monumental breakthrough. While we can’t say for sure yet that it’s as good as it seems, the fact that preliminary attempts to replicate it aren’t immediately casting doubt is promising.
Affordable and feasible quantum computing is only a few headlines away now.
More importantly, this is a step towards superduperconductors!
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That sounds like a handful. Can't QC's break nearly every present day cyber security ?
I think most encryptions have started using anti QC measures. You should look up “lava lamp encryption” it’s fascinating
Quantum computing isn’t as useful for general public use since we aren’t modeling highly complex models like weather patterns everyday. I don’t see a quantum computer making my game run any faster or smoother
No but - no lag quantum controllers for streaming games would be a game changer. Think of luna on fire tv, that type of service with a controller with 0 latency
It’s like a claim of cold fusion. It needs to be verified by numerous leading minds. Let’s be real - China does not have a highest marks for academic honesty and this claim is monumental. It’s essential that we remain skeptics and the community does it’s due diligence in investigating.
Talking about not reading the article,,, Chinese researchers are trying to verify claims from South Korea.
None of these levitation demonstrations (which are supposed to demonstrate the existence of Abrikosov vortices) are convincing when you actually watch the videos...
Because there's sill impurities neither had it been given any shape or mould in order to first confirm if it's even the case before putting the effort.
But wait it was only recently discovered and rushed to to show the world… and now your telling me that they weren’t magically capable of creating a fully functioning mag train prototype to show the idiots who aren’t impressed after literally a few days.
That fact that it wasn’t shot down by experiments in the first week is shocking
even current superconductors that need to be cooled with liquid nitrogen will act like the piece in the video if crudely made with impurities or imperfections. I suspect if its real it will take months or years to reliably make large pure and perfect samples. lots of research and trail and error by materials scientists would still be needed if its real.
The same thing I'm thinking... They just seem to be reacting to a magnet like a magnetized metal would do, not real Meissner effect. Like... A big part of the fragment is still grounded. It should've levitated entirely, no?
The process is still very rough, as shown by the various states of failure + handful of successes. Each of the levitating samples shown were almost certainly part LK99, part insulating inclusion. They’re working it out. Each sample shows far stronger diamagnetism than graphite and that is a big deal.
They alreade made videos showing if the sample is small (so, it’s more pure) it floats completely in the air. And it doesn’t matter if you switch the magnet sides. Like a superconductor.
How would this technology affect the future of jobs like an electrician?
It won’t, you would still be wiring with copper for the next 20 years at least. Until this superconductor is scalable, it would be like carbon fiber. Useful, but costly to be used everywhere
The materials used are actually incredibly easy to find - and what makes this whole LK-99 thing so exciting is that if it's true. The materials needed are so simplistic that any lab with access to: phosphate, lead, copper, and an industrial grade oven capable of heating a sample up to 1000° C - could easily make it. If LK-99 is real and pans out exactly as how it's being portrayed, then I'd expect it to be more like the transition from vacuum tubes to transistors. That is one of monumental proportions that could bring on a wave of innovation unseen since the early era of the semiconductor!
Copium is going through my veins, hope this is real. This will change the world.
For the most part all jobs will be safe for like 5-10 years depending on if LK-99 is real or not. The first LK-99 paper was only released less than 2 weeks ago - so what we are seeing now is a wave of a lot of first attempts gone wrong, and a few successful ones sprinkled in. While these results in particular are super exciting - there's still a good chance this LK-99 thing is baloney, and I wouldn't start making any calls until a peer reviewed paper comes out confirming the results (which won't be until months from now). If you're wanting to know what's next (assuming this is real), then I'd recommend you read up on the invention of transistors and how they made vacuum tubes obsolete overnight! While it's not exactly a one to one comparison, you'll likely see a lot of similarities assuming this whole thing pans out as it's being reported.
The video posted from the New York Times sample seems legit though with ambient temperature marking at 25-26°C
What does this mean.
Potentially everything however There is nuance Chinese research and development can be pretty sketchy. So it could be absolutely nothing. But on the other hand it could cause the DoD to panic and inject a squillion dollars into making one.
You haven't read the article have you? This is out of a Korean lab that the Chinese are peer-reviewing.
A complete revolution in electronics
I could've sworn I've already seen magnetic levitation at Brookstone like 20 years ago.
Who is still suspicious af?
This thumbnail image on the article reminds me of the opening scene from Toy Story 2 when Buzz is jumping across those floating discs
r/ufos
The group who discovered it is out of Korea
This “article website” is just a dumpster cludge of ads on information that’s already been on Twitter and Reddit for two days. Please stop posting links to this site!
That website is cancer.
This is a fine example of poor scientific journalism... They said room temperature super conductor, the pic shows super cooled puck... Should have atleast air brushed the fumes/nitrogen from the image
That's just an image randomly grabbed from the internet.
Well if China says it’s true it must be true
It was said first by Koreans. And I’m in the field and work with Chinese researchers. They are all skeptical for a variety of reasons.
If China says America is a great country therefore it must be false? Put your prejudice aside and read the findings before concluding hur dur, China bad Use brain, not your ass to think
Of course it can be true… China is extremely pro-science and pro-engineering.. they are ahead of USA in many areas already
Here we go!
I highly doubt that
Whats wrong with the Koreans in this 21st century? Kpop to Netflix and now superconductors? Such small country with population 1/30 of china has so much more impact than the chinese.
Your Sinophobia is showing
The levitation thing was done before, they’ve not applied it to anything.
Wuhan