Possible Room Temperature Superconductor Achieved 264
TechkNighT_1337 sends news that surfaced on the Next Big Future blog, concerning research out of the University of Bengal, in India. The report is of a possible superconducting effect at ambient room temperatures. Here is the paper on the ArXiv. (Note that this research has not been peer-reviewed or published yet.) "We report the observation of an exceptionally large room-temperature electrical conductivity in silver and aluminum layers deposited on a lead zirconate titanate (PZT) substrate. The surface resistance of the silver-coated samples also shows a sharp change near 313 K. The results are strongly suggestive of a superconductive interfacial layer, and have been interpreted in the framework of Bose-Einstein condensation of bipolarons as the suggested mechanism for high-temperature superconductivity in cuprates. ... The fact that the results described above have been obtained from very simply-fabricated systems, without the use of any sophisticated set-up and any special attention being given to crystal purity, atomic perfection, lattice matching, etc. suggests that the physical process is a universal one, involving only an interface between a metal and an insulator with a large low-frequency dielectric constant. We note in passing that PZT and the cuprates have similar (perovskite or perovskite-based) crystal structures. This resemblance may provide an added insight into the basic mechanism of high-temperature superconductivity."
Of course! (Score:5, Funny)
After reading the summary, everything is plainly obvious...
(walks away slowly before anyone can notice I didn't understand anything)
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Exactly so obvious. And you know, it sounds entirely possible it's superconducting, but you know they really won't know if it is or not until they (mumble mumble mumble...)
Actually, I'll just come right out and ask: how is it that this is just "possible?" I understand that they set up a device to measure resistance, and it sounds like its just a very thin layer that is actually superconducting which sounds like it could complicate things, but then it just says there was a "sharp change" in the conductivit
Re:Of course! (Score:5, Informative)
*sigh* It's even worse than that. IAAP and I was very excited to see this ... at first. The article by the way is very well written (serious science - not a crank). The problem is that the data (figure 2 in the arxiv paper - everyone should check this out btw) on which the author hangs all his hopes is seriously noisy (compared to the size of the "kink" that he superposes on the graph). In other words, if you imagine erasing the drawn-in kink, such artifacts occur several places in the data and are generally not above the noise level.
So, I would say that the conclusion is highly unwarranted given the state of the existing signal to noise. However, if the author truly feels there's something promising, he simply has to go about improving his signal. To be fair, the /. title is far more ambitious compared to the original article (indications of ...). He's merely putting this out in the wild to get feedback from other researchers in the field (which is solely what Arxiv is used for by serious researchers, not as a publication destination).
As it stands, the "kink" seems to be nothing more than (one of several) noise bumps. I'll be keeping an eye on this guy of course. Maybe something might come out of this, who know?
Re:Of course! (Score:5, Insightful)
*sigh* It's even worse than that. IAAP and I was very excited to see this ... at first. The article by the way is very well written (serious science - not a crank). The problem is that the data (figure 2 in the arxiv paper - everyone should check this out btw) on which the author hangs all his hopes is seriously noisy (compared to the size of the "kink" that he superposes on the graph). In other words, if you imagine erasing the drawn-in kink, such artifacts occur several places in the data and are generally not above the noise level.
Not necessarily. When analysing experimental data, keep in mind that it's not only the ~5 points of the kink that carry relevant information, it's *all* the points! Thus, the proper way to look at the graph would be to focus first the lower half (up to the kink), and then on the upper half, and see what's changed. If, for example, linear fits to the separate data regions give separate straight lines, this could mean that there is something in the data.
That having been said: although IAAS (I am a scientist), I'm not a transport measurements guy and I'm not familiar with the state-of-the-art methods in this particular experimental technique... The guys improving their experimental technique would certainly not hurt at all, but for now, I'd leave it to the peer reviewers to estimate the relevance of *this* particular graph ;-)
Re:Of course! (Score:4, Interesting)
Totally agree. I too find that the measurements reported in the paper are quite suspicious. Furthermore I have noticed that there is no mention about the oscillator frequency used for collecting the data shown in figure 2, so it is difficult to judge how much significant is the "kink" upon which most of the paper claims are standing. It is also questionable the fact that he had to use a current excitation signal at 20 Hz in order to improve the measurement. PZT is a well-known piezoelectric material, so I wonder if his measurements were simply contaminated by noise induced by periodical mechanical vibrations: unfortunately in the paper there is no mention about the physical setup of his experiment (neither he reports how many PZT strips he tested...).
By the way...IAAP, although not working on superconductors :-(
Re:Of course! (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Of course! (Score:5, Insightful)
Wait until it has been repeated. (Score:5, Insightful)
until the experiment has been repeated by someone else, I'm not holding any hope.
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I'll second that!
Re:Wait until it has been repeated. (Score:4, Insightful)
until the experiment has been repeated by someone else, I'm not holding any hope.
I tend to agree. This falls into the too good to be true category. Simple materials and a fairly straightforward relatively low tech process to make it reeks of cold fusion. Also showing signs of superconductivity has always been a vague statement and rather noncommittal. Saying that crystal purity didn't seem to be a factor also appears questionable since that would normally be critical to achieving superconductivity. It's a little like saying you just made a 100% efficient photovoltaic cell out of plain ole beach sand. Not real likely.
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I get that feeling as well. It kind of reminds me about that story about the Indian kid that developed a "revolutionary" new solar panel that will bring cheap electricity to rural India out of human hair.
Re: move along now (Score:2, Insightful)
Uhhhm no, you don't have to wait for replication. All you have to do is move on to the next story and ignore this stupidity. It's a SINGLE AUTHOR PAPER from some dude at the University of North Bengal, which was reported by a laughably sensationalistic pseudoscience mongering blog and regurgitated here by perhaps the dumbest, most credulous editor on /.'s staff: kdawson (who posts trumpet-blaring room temperature superconductivity stories with such regularity that you could probably set your watch by it). H
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But kudos for the ringworld reference
Re: move along now (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: move along now (Score:4, Insightful)
Riddle me this: if "considering the source" is the only valid criterion on which a person's authority on a subject rests, then how the hell does said person achieve enough authority to ever pass the "consider the source" test?
Considering the source is a shortcut for where to look for interesting papers. It does not, however, have anything to do with the validity of the data itself.
Is it an extraordinary claim? Sure is. Is it valid to wait for someone with some authority to make similar claims before judging that paper? Sure is. Is it possible to dismiss the claims immediately? Complete,utter, bullshit. Your entire argument rests on semantic and personal judgments. There is not a single iota of science in your post. It beats the hell out of me how you got modded up.
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Riddle me this: if "considering the source" is the only valid criterion on which a person's authority on a subject rests, then how the hell does said person achieve enough authority to ever pass the "consider the source" test?
You author a paper alongside someone who's already an authority in the subject. In the field of Mathematics, for instance, this is measured as the Erdos number [wikipedia.org] though similar schemes exist for other [wikipedia.org] fields as well.
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Yeah, that's got nothing at all to do with anything that deglr6328 pointed out. Where, in his post, did he mention at all the identity or even qualifications of the author?
In this case, there are a few ways in which the author could have made his paper more credible, all without requiring anything resembling authority:
1. Collaborated with other condensed matter physicists.
2. Submitted paper for publication in prestigious journal (with a high-profile discovery like room-temperature superconductivity, this wo
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The correct pronoun in a single author paper is still "we". If you are unaware of this then why would anything else that you say about the state of the literature be credible?
For the [citation needed] crowd. [dsv.su.se]
Two weeks old, no citations or trackbacks (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Two weeks old, no citations or trackbacks (Score:4, Interesting)
Lisi's E8 paper has been cited like 17 times. I'd say that's pretty good and hardly constitutes "no scientists commenting on it in 3 years". It's usually a good bet, but overhyped media publicity doesn't ALWAYS automatically mean someone's work is shit. Lisi's theory makes concrete falsifiable predictions for new particles that will either be confirmed or ruled out using the LHC's dataset.
Re:Two weeks old, no citations or trackbacks (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah, I guess that's why he just co-authored "Unification of gravity, gauge fields, and Higgs bosons" with Perimeter Institute physicist Lee Smolin then, huh.....'cause he's just such a joke.
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The paper got more than the usual attention from the media because of it's charming title and charismatic author, as well as a very attractive accompanying illustration.
It was nonetheless serious research, and as others have noted has been cited numerous times. It has been kicked around in the usual way of advanced theories, with nothing conclusive either way.
In the popular press it was really more human-interest story than science story; practically no science writers are even remotely capable of reading
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Re:Wait until it has been repeated. (Score:4, Funny)
Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Wait until it has been repeated. (Score:4, Funny)
FAPP (For all practical purpose)
No offense, but I sincerely hope that acronym does not catch on =)
Re:Wait until it has been repeated. (Score:4, Funny)
Too late. FAPP FAPP FAPP ... it's all over the internet FAPP FAPP FAPP.
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IANALFAPP
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You probably said the same thing when cold fusion was announced.
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Oooh - now there's a thought. Could we use cold fusion to cause global cooling?
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Nice to see that the paper author reads Slashdot :)
I had this sneaky suspicion... (Score:4, Funny)
it was Bose-Einstein condensation of bipolarons that would allow for room tempurature super conduction.
You obviously didn't read the article: (Score:3, Funny)
It was thousands of micro black holes simultaneously created in a vortex. They annihilate each other in seconds, and collapse a quantum vacuum around the radius of the muon. This lowers the temperature automatically in that region of the molecular assembler, and then it warps space time for a second to super conduct from one part of the crystal matrix to another.
It's not like a traditional superconductor at all, and that's why it works at room temperature, but only in the tropics.
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it was Bose-Einstein condensation of bipolarons that would allow for room tempurature super conduction.
To be honest, I figured that at a minimum, one would have to reroute all secondary power to the deflector shields.
...really? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:...really? (Score:4, Funny)
Didn't you just answer your own question?
Re:...really? (Score:5, Insightful)
Not peer-reviewed and not published = why the fuck is this on Slashdot?!
Because ad revenue goes up while everybody discusses how it shouldn't be on Slashdot.
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What Ad-Blocker? Slashdot gave me the ability to turn off their ads.
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Me too, then I passed on that option and added exception for slashdot for ABP
my review... (Score:2)
My cursory and inexpert review says that the graphs look extremely inconclusive. I wouldn't hold much hope.
Re:...really? (Score:5, Insightful)
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Room Temperature in UK, maybe not in India? (Score:5, Funny)
313K is 40C. So this stuff ought to behave just fine in the UK, but only part of the year in India :-) Even in temperate climates, you'd have to be careful not to leave it out in the sun, so again it should be fine in the UK...
Re:Room Temperature in UK, maybe not in India? (Score:5, Funny)
Reminds me of that joke about scientists in Anchorage discovering a room-temperature superconductor :P
Re:Room Temperature in UK, maybe not in India? (Score:5, Insightful)
This is why we prefer the term "high temperature superconductor" over "room temperature". Superconductivity at 313K, if even possible, is still a damn big deal.
And for a lot of applications, anywhere near ambient temperature is good enough. If the cooling system needed is no more complex than a home AC unit, you've removed the primary drawback/limit on practical superconductors, namely the need for cyrogenic liquids.
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primary drawback/limit on practical superconductors, namely the need for cyrogenic liquids.
And even then, sometimes it's worth the cost of refrigeration, if the current is high enough. The same calculation would be done and push cooled power transmission probably out to the last mile, I'd guess. Certainly any big industrial plant with 3-phase would be signing up.
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This website's HTML is dubious, but it has a chart and discussion of ground temperature [vt.edu] despite the focus on Virginia. Ground temperature tends to be fairly steady about thirty feet below the surface. I don't know what soil temperature would be in India but I suspect it would still be below 100 degrees at that point.
Of course this story is quite likely not true or useful, as other have pointed out. But if we ever do develop room-temperature superconductors, expect them to be buried. Even here in Michigan we
Cold Fusion (Score:5, Insightful)
This smells of Cold fusion [wikipedia.org]. I was 12 when that scandal erupted and I'm *still* recovering from the disappointment that we hadn't just entered the age of flying cars. This time I think we're better off saving our excitement until the experiment has been repeated.
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Sadly true. Peter Hagelstein keeps writing about this in Analog, but they kept mislabeling his stories as "science fact" instead of as a continuing novella.
Re:Cold Fusion (Score:5, Interesting)
The unfortunate reality is that *because of the scandal*, and under the current political fallout conditions, it is considered professional suicide to even get evolved with it. Any projects you are working on will immediately become unfunded, even those not directly related to Cold Fusion. The politics are a formidable problem with moving the technology forward, and that is not likely to change any time soon. Someday it will no longer be taboo to work on it, but for now don't hold your breath. Bad politics can kill almost any 'good thing' despite the clear benefits it might possess for the future. Right now the only way it will ever move forward is through private funding.
Re:Cold Fusion (Score:5, Funny)
"It's real", hAckzor concludes.
Film at eleven. Take that, scientific establishment.
Re:Cold Fusion (Score:5, Informative)
Cold Fusion has more than just political problems: it's a matter of energy scales. To overcome the Coulomb barrier between deuterium and tritium, after which the strong interaction takes over, requires an energy of about 4.5 x 10^7 Kelvin. This is the lowest energy fusion reaction. Now imagine how much energy you can get from the strongest chemical reaction. How about thermite: 2500 K, you're still off by four orders of magnitude. That's the main reason why physicists avoid Cold Fusion.
The current superconductivity article is better, in that the underlying physics is at least plausible, but as a previous poster pointed out, the signal to noise ratio is low, even after smoothing has been applied. Also 4000 Angstroms of deposited Al seems to be somewhat on the thick side for the dielectric to have any effect. But it's certainly worth trying to reproduce the results. (IAAP specializing in superconductivity).
Re:Cold Fusion (Score:5, Insightful)
They claimed that the power was 1 watt. A number so high that detecting the reaction is totally trivial.. for example if you are in the room for a few hours, you die without a decent piece of shielding.
The current experiments show some interesting facts too. No one can get any decent signal above the noise, while home built fusors totally destroy cold fusion with easily detectable reaction rates (on the order of 10^6 reaction per second IIRC). Hell even diode tube neutron sources destroy them for reaction rate.
The catches (Score:5, Informative)
There has been a number of fraud reports of high temperature superconductivity, and while there are some confirmed examples of superconductivity at very high temperatures ( like -70C ) they usually involve some microscopic crystal or other structure which is not very useful for most practical applications.
In addition, that something super conducts does not imply it can handle a very large current at high temperatures. The current creates a magnetic field, and superconductors can only work when the magnetic field is less than some fixed value that depends on the material. If I'm not mistaken this value is at its highest when the temperature is very low, and thus it's quite plausible you could get a room temperature superconductor which can't carry any significant current unless cooled to more traditional temperatures.
Re:The catches (Score:4, Informative)
Even if it had a low critical current, the alleged room-temperature superconductor would be useful for SQUIDs and Josephson junctions.
Re:The catches (Score:5, Interesting)
Yes, but the small crystals are usually a side-effect of the technique used to find novel superconducting compounds. What some groups do is create polycrystalline lumps where each crystal has a slightly different formula. Then they test resistivity with changing temperature across the whole lot. If just one crystal superconducts, there will be a 'kink' in the graph. This is like a simple brute-force method for testing many samples in parallel, but doesn't necessarily provide a formula that an be produced in bulk.
It's like a mathematical proof that states that something "must exist" without providing an actual value.
Also, superconductors are inherently useful irrespective of the current carrying capacity. For example, Josephson Junctions [wikipedia.org] and RSFQ [wikipedia.org] digital electronics are both very useful and require very low power.
Even a "thin-film" superconductor like the one described in the article would be very useful, as that can be practical for integrated circuitry, even if it's not possible to make a flexible wire out of it.
Balogna (Score:4, Interesting)
> The surface resistance of the silver-coated samples also shows a sharp change near 313 K.
Pure copper does the exact same thing.
I call bogus.
Maury
Reminds me of Futurama... (Score:3, Funny)
Yes, I see. Something involving that many big words could easily destabilize time itself!
Too good to be true (Score:2)
Cheap materials, cheap process, room temperature......way too good to be true.
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That's not the punchline. You're supposed to say "pick two".
The Other Important Question (Score:4, Informative)
How much current can it carry? Superconductors tend to lose superconductivity in the presence of a large magnetic field, limiting the amount of current they can carry. I don't know if the high Tc superconductors are more susceptible than the regular ones, but it's something to keep in mind.
If they can take a really high magnetic field then that would be really cool for projects like the LHC. A large part of what makes that project dangerous, difficult, and expensive is the large number of He cooled superconducting magnets it needs. The danger comes in when you get a cosmic ray or something that increases the temperature of the magnet so that even a small part loses its superconductivity. When that happens, the non-superconducting part rapidly starts heating up the rest of the magnet in a process called "quenching." The results of a quench can be quite catastrophic.
Re:The Other Important Question (Score:5, Interesting)
Superconductors tend to lose superconductivity in the presence of a large magnetic field, limiting the amount of current they can carry.
Type I yes. Type II no.
The latter makes current whirlpools that pinch the magnetic field into little quantized columns, which arrange themselves in a hexagonal grid. Superconduction quits in the narrow column where the mag field penetrates, but continues just fine in the rest of the material, dodging around the columns. The field must be very strong to make a lattice of mag field penetrations so dense that they merge and all superconduction crosswise to the mag field quits.
Not that it matters:
Superconductors are useful for a LOT of stuff besides carrying power around. Being able to make thin-film superconductor elements with a critical temperature, not just of an air conditioned room, but of a human body with a moderately high fever, would be very useful. (You could keep it cool enough to keep working, even inside a piece of hot equipment on a hot day, with a Peltier junction cooler. No problem.)
joke? (Score:2)
Is this a joke? Did someone put this paper up to smear someone's reputation? There isn't anything close to good data or analysis there. You can't put that out there.
Slashdot shouldn't be looking at this, it's embarrassing.
Meissner effect? (Score:5, Interesting)
Magnetic levitation photos or it didn't happen.
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Magnetic
If they actually achieved that, it would be a miracle.
Re:Meissner effect? (Score:5, Funny)
Fucking room temperature superconductors, how do they work?
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Superconductivity Breakthrough! (Score:3, Insightful)
Amazing! Simply ama...
Re:Superconductivity Breakthrough! (Score:5, Insightful)
Peer review is not as magical as you think it is.
And as someone who peer reviews... why do i waste my time reading these papers that are only on ArXiv?
Extraordinary claims require evidence. (Score:5, Informative)
I'm a condensed matter physicist. This claim is weak beyond belief, and it pains me to no end to see it get picked up by slashdot and other sites (nextbigfuture.com). To demonstrate superconductivity, you need to show (a) zero resistance over some range of current; (b) the Meissner effect (expulsion of magnetic flux, seen via magnetometry); (c) a characteristic feature of a phase transition in the heat capacity. This paper shows exactly none of these things. The noise level in the resistance measurements is so poor, you could not tell the difference between zero and 0.01 Ohms (which would be totally believable considering there is already a metal film in the system). This paper in its present form is not fit for publication. Seriously, you don't have to be an expert at this stuff to see that this is weak - just look at the noise level in the current-voltage curves and use some common sense!
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Also, they're using a piezoelectric substrate, so there might be resonance effects going on. For example, the sample will shrink as it's cooled, and might go through a size where it exactly resonates with the 20Hz sampling signal they were using.
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Seriously, you don't have to be an expert at this stuff to see that this is weak
Uh, yeah you do. I consider myself to be pretty smart, what with the 160 IQ and the medical degree and all. But superconductors just aren't my field. Put a bunch of words together that don't trigger alarm bells and sound plausible, and I'm a believer. Perhaps you need to take a look in the mirror and realize that you know more about this stuff than the average person. You are certainly more of an expert tha
Silent electric motors? (Score:2)
Can we make electric motors with zero friction if we had RTSCs? It would seem that even the best of electric motors need bearings support the main rotating mechanism.
It would amazing to have giant 5 metre size motors that were completely silent.
just what I've been missing (Score:2)
I'm going to use some of this superconductor in my perpetual motion machine that feeds the cold fusion reactor I'm planning.
But not in the EU (Score:2)
deposited on a lead zirconate titanate
Sorry. That violates RoHS regulations.
Room-temperature superconductors six years ago... (Score:3, Interesting)
There was also a discovery of a superconducting phase formed at the surface of an N-type diamond substrate six years ago. Since then, Johan Prins has managed to get one paper published in a semiconductor journal, but this work has been almost completely ignored by the scientific community. More disturbingly, to my knowledge, is that there has been no effort to duplicate this astonishing result, nor a single challenge of the experimental method or physics contained within the paper.
The observed behavior is clearly at odds with the presently accepted superconducting theory, and should be welcomed by any open-minded scientist, or at the very least refuted. The accepted theory not only doesn't fit the data for Type-II superconductors, it is useless in practice, and offers no real insight into the physical phenomenon.
Since then, he has postulated a new theory of superconductivity, and a new interpretation* of quantum mechanics, both of which look very reasonable from what I have seen. What is more, his theory accurately models both types of superconductors with the same physics, and is useful enough to engineer new superconductors. If the theory does fit the existing data more accurately, this certainly deserves further investigation.
Though I haven't been able to track down his book, there are chapters of his current and upcoming books here [cathodixx.com]. They at least give insight into his ideas. My crude understanding follows, and I look forward to the completed book.
The fundamental idea, is that the the wave equation is not a probability distribution of a point particle, but a harmonic wave which represents the mass distribution of the particle, the complex part of which is actually another dimension. There are no particles, only waves, and all are subject to appropriate boundary conditions. The extra dimension also provides a pair of entangled "particles" a mechanism for action at a distance--they are in reality a single wave. Photons are waves without mass, and may entangle with an electron, imparting energy in the process. An interesting point, is that in Kaluza-Klein theory, Einstein's field equations and Maxwell's equations fall out of general relativity, simply by assuming an extra dimension.
Anyway, as applied to his superconducting discovery, the electrons actually entangle into a single electron wave, and form what he calls an array of orbitals. It is a purely electronic Bose-Einstein condensate, which is stable at room temperature, and where charge moves not by some convoluted electron-pair and phonon interaction, but by a quantum effect, in what is otherwise essentially an insulator. This same array is asserted to form within metals, or within the ceramic superconductors between layers, where there are sufficient donor atoms. All that is required is for the right density of orbitals to form and entangle, and that charge carriers be anchored somewhere, so that they can not undergo acceleration and collisions. (Which is why the best conductors do not superconduct.)
* the currently accepted interpretation of quantum mechanics is unsatisfying to say the least. The math is useful, but who really believes that wave-particle duality and the statistical interpretation are not a mere mathematical construct, but the foundation of reality? Never once did I believe that, nor did Einstein or Schrödinger, and it is disturbing that people would so easily accept it as fact.
The Bipolorons!!! (Score:5, Funny)
It's The Manic Maurauder! (POW!)
The Hyperthymic Huntress! (ZAP!)
And The Depressed Defender! (Mwah-mwahhh!)
Using their insanity in a never-ending battle against crime and the forces of evil!
They're off their meds and on the case! It's The Bipolorons!!
.
Re:Someone didn't get the memo (Score:5, Insightful)
If it superconducts at room temperature, trust me, nobody's going to give a crap what it's made from.
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Re:Someone didn't get the memo (Score:4, Insightful)
Well, silver isn't -that- expensive. Especially when we're just speaking of a layer of the stuff.
Re:Someone didn't get the memo (Score:5, Funny)
Well, apparently you don't have to deal with electricity stealing Werewolves. I for one, am glad someone is finally addressing this problem.
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Silver IS cheap. They even use it in many solders.
In a superconductor, it wouldn't have to be very thick. Compared to the cost of solid copper wire for the same current, it'd probably be a lot cheaper. Copper isn't all that cheap these days.
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Sure, but even so, 1) the amount of silver you'd need wouldn't be much per foot of wire, and 2) it'd be used for high-value/high-performance applications, not to replace all the wire out there. Of course, this assumes that this is for real; I'm not holding my breath.
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I'd easily settle for a room temperature superconductor first, and then worry about mass producing using viable (read cheap) alternative materials later on, no?
Re:This will later be known as... (Score:5, Informative)
No he didn't.
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Re:This will later be known as... (Score:5, Insightful)
If the term "unobtainium" wasn't invented by the early heyday of jet fighter engineering (circa the Korean war), I'll eat my carbon-graphite bike frame.
My understanding is that superconductors have current limits independent of resistive effects (possibly due to magnetic field intensity). How much material you need depends on those exact limits. Even silver could be cheap as dirt if the current density is high enough.
The other thing I've heard is that superconductors are generally discovered by observing related effects, not by measuring conductivity itself.
There also seems to be many people here who have never heard of the black swan effect. You can't prove a black swan doesn't exist by observing a sequence of white swans. There's always a first time. This also applies to the possibility that something important is someday discovered or first published independent of peer review.
That said, there's no point in wearing out your salivary glands unnecessarily, although I've heard it's a common ailment to overdose on visual innuendo of the possibility of doing something you're not actually doing (with dim prospects).
For me qualified engineering porn is when the material is officially characterized in important criteria such as current density limits.
I feel the same way about quantum computing. Still haven't seen a formula which describes the ultimate constraint (or cost) on how many qubits can be stacked together (usually the universe puts limits on salivary endeavours). It would be kind of weird if qubits prove to be as stackable as frictionless pulleys.
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We do? Maybe I haven't been paying attention, but I don't recall any other ground-breaking research coming from India. However, I have heard a lot of fantastic claims from North Korea, like some kind of drink which reverses the aging process.
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They've just invented beer? Not terribly impressive, I'd say.
Well, I seem to remember... (Score:2)
...this ground-breaking [slashdot.org] invention. Granted, it is from Nepal, [geek.com] and not India, but it is close enough.
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or Israel is close enough to [Egypt | Jordan | Syria | Iran | Iraq]
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I think it's the other way around. Nepal is close enough to India as the USA is close enough to Mexico. India's police are famous for their corruption, just like Mexico's police. Nepal, however, is the home of the Gurkha, who are highly valued in Singapore as highly professional, uncorrupted, and impartial police and paramilitary, as well as renowned for their fighting skills and their service within the British military. Similarly, the USA is known for its military prowess, whereas Mexico's military ha