Europium's Superconductivity Demonstrated 103
gabrlknght writes "An old element just learned a new trick under pressure. When cooled and squeezed very hard, the soft metallic element europium turns into a superconductor, allowing electrons to flow unfettered by resistance, a study appearing May 13 in Physical Review Letters shows. The results make europium the 53rd of the 92 naturally occurring elements to possess superconductivity, which, if harnessed, could make for more efficient energy transfer."
Gee... (Score:4, Interesting)
Gee...I got all excited there for a moment. Until I read:
"The results make europium the 53rd of the 92 naturally occurring elements to possess superconductivity"
If the gnomes haven't figured out how to "harness" the magic contained in the OTHER 92 elements that super-conduct, why would this one be any different?
Rare Earth Metals (Score:4, Interesting)
I was quite surprised to read in Wikipedia that the rare earth metals are neither rare nor 'earths' [wikipedia.org] in reality.
Re:First post (Score:0, Interesting)
Re:Cool. Where's my Europium mine? (Score:2, Interesting)
No numbers, but heres a picture:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:CERN-cables-p1030764.jpg [wikipedia.org]
Re:I always knew it (Score:2, Interesting)
Take that, Americium!
Governor Schwartz, when asked for comment said "Youu continant sizzed eloments think you're all thaat? Califooornia is just one state and we haf an eloment named after ous"
You should have tried someone from Copenhagen.... they have Hafnium, and they are just a city. Don't know any toughies from there, though ;)
Think of Ytterby, Sweden. A village with 3 (three!!!) elements named from it: terbium, erbium and ytterbium ( see here [wikipedia.org])
Think of Ytterby (Score:2, Interesting)
Think of Ytterby, Sweden. A village with 3 (three!!!) elements named from it: terbium, erbium and ytterbium ( see here [wikipedia.org])
Ops, I forgot some more [wikipedia.org]... It seems that Ytterby originated 4-8 names...
General Application Not Practical... (Score:2, Interesting)