Canadian Scientists Bind High-Temp Superconductor Components With Scotch Tape 97
A user writes "Scotch tape really can fix anything according to a new study where it was used to induce super conductivity by taping two pieces of material together. A "proximity effect" occurs when a superconducting material is able to induce superconducting behavior in a second material — a semiconductor that does not typically enjoy superconductivity." All that and X-rays, too. Related: An anonymous reader writes "Scientist at University of Leipzig in Germany claim to have measured room-temperature superconducting in specially treated graphite grains. The measurements were reproduced independently before the announcement was made. More tests need to be done to verify the extent of superconductivity and whether the effect can be extended and scaled to be practical."
Sometimes (Score:3, Interesting)
Just because they might be at the cutting edge of scientific progress does not mean common household goods, that were once thought of as perhaps as innovative as superconductivity, cannot be useful. Maybe I am stretching things in this case, perhaps they should have used duct tape. Anyhow, there must be other examples of this kind of thing?
Re:Sometimes (Score:5, Interesting)
I remember the 2010 Nobel prize winners in physics also used scotch tape to produce graphene, by peeling layers of carbon off of graphite:
http://motherboard.vice.com/2010/10/7/physics-nobel-prize-winners-secret-scotch-tape--2
Re: (Score:3)
Indeed.
Here is a youtube video that explains this in simple terms:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PifL8bAybyc [youtube.com]
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
And peeling scotch tape in vacuum can release X-rays.
Re:Sometimes (Score:5, Funny)
The glass slides in the experiment contained silica, the same common material in sand across the globe.
There hasn't been any press release yet, but I suspect the scientist's underwear was made of cotton. That's right, the age-old textile material cotton has now found new use in the field of scientific research!
Also, we're still waiting on confirmation that the building's electrical wiring contained copper, but there is speculation that it may have been contaminated by other metals, complicating the analysis.
Re: (Score:1)
Your UID is way too high..
I only clicked on this story looking for funny comments - thank you.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Sometimes (Score:5, Funny)
Maybe I am stretching things in this case, perhaps they should have used duct tape.
Looks like a job for the Possum Lodge Institute of Science and Technology.
Re: (Score:3)
I can visualize Red Green demonstrating the project as I type this. Sure miss that show...
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Irrelevant headline (Score:5, Insightful)
So the really interesting part of this story - that superconductivity can be induced in high-temperature materials that haven't been grown in proximity - is completely overshadowed by the tape that held the experiment together?
Fuck journalism.
Re:Irrelevant headline (Score:4, Interesting)
So the really interesting part of this story - that superconductivity can be induced in high-temperature materials that haven't been grown in proximity - is completely overshadowed by the tape that held the experiment together?
Fuck journalism.
You must be new here...
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:1)
You can transport electricity with HVDC for thousands of km while losing less than 10%. Getting the last 10% back would obviously be nice, but it will not be a revolution.
Re: (Score:2)
However magnetic energy storage would have quite an impact.
Re:Irrelevant headline (Score:5, Insightful)
As a physicist by training, yes, that's exactly what I want.
Re: (Score:2)
Eh, the documentation is even shittier than Linux's, if you can believe it.
Plus, every five lines there's a TODO comment.
Re: (Score:2)
Don't get me started on the fact that 94% of the source is logic-sensitive whitespace.
Re:Irrelevant headline (Score:5, Interesting)
So the really interesting part of this story - that superconductivity can be induced in high-temperature materials that haven't been grown in proximity - is completely overshadowed by the tape that held the experiment together?
Fuck journalism.
I think you mean... that superconductivity can be induced at high-temperatures in materials that haven't been grown in proximity... And yes I find that far more interesting than using tape to accomplish it. Generally superconductivity dislikes material boundaries. This is why crystal grain boundaries (paradoxically) help control superconductivity in thin-film YBCO and similar high-temp materials by preventing eddy vorticies from interfering with flow. I had no idea you could induce superconductivity in a different crystal through proximity. in fact all of the knowledge I have on the subject (I did my graduate thesis on YBCO thin films) tells me it shouldn't be possible.
Re:Irrelevant headline (Score:5, Insightful)
That is what I meant. That sentence was mangled several times while revising, and apparently I posted a few revisions too early.
Technology-wise, this is an interesting discovery. It would have been equally interesting had the scientist used fly paper or chewing gum to hold the semiconductors together. Once upon a time, this site claimed to offer "news for nerds"... let's not water down the nerdy science with the lowest-common-denominator amazement that versatile materials have many uses.
Re: (Score:3)
How do you induce superconductivity with a proximity effect? My understanding of the phenomenon is that it is basically a specific quantum state allowed to electrons that directly depends on crystal structure (hence the temperature dependence). This is not unlike semiconductors where we rely on a manipulated band-gap to effect alterations in the conductive properties. More interestingly, superconductivity generally doesn't exist where magnetic fields do (there are macroscopic exceptions, but physically when
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Unless I just uncovered the fallback plan: if it doesn't work out then Blame Canada!
Re: (Score:1)
Ooo Oooo OOOO, new tag: #Canuckistan
BlameCanada is so 20th century.
Re: (Score:2)
> So the really interesting part of this story - that superconductivity can be induced in high-temperature materials that haven't been grown in proximity - is completely overshadowed by the tape that held the experiment together?
If this result held, yes this is big news, but I remember of the "high temperature superconductivity fashion": quite a few of these experiment reported success but could not be reproduced: measuring supercondictivity is *hard*.
So I'll wait until it is properly reproduced and meas
Scotch Tape has been used before. (Score:5, Interesting)
Helped discover graphene:
http://science.energy.gov/news/in-focus/2011/03-25-11/ [energy.gov]
Enjoy (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
This is Canada, we need to be more cost effective and responsible with tax-payer money. Your options are scotch tape, beer, Tim Horton's coffee, moose droppings, and snow -- and in most of the country, the snow is only actually about 4 months of the year contrary to popular belief.
Well,
Re: (Score:2)
Well, we have the CSA [asc-csa.gc.ca] -- they kinda helped make the robotic arm in the shuttle and other things. It's not like we aren't involved in these things.
Huh, and here I was thinking they called it the "Canada arm" 'cuz it sits on top and does relatively nothing...
Just messing with ya, canucks, no hard feelings!
Re: (Score:3)
No worries ... we don't really use moose droppings in (much) scientific research either. ;-)
Re: (Score:2)
No worries ... we don't really use moose droppings in (much) scientific research either, eh. ;-)
FTFY, lol
Re: (Score:2)
I think Mythbusters tried to polish one at some point.
Re: (Score:2)
2nd Summary (Score:5, Insightful)
Is it just me or is the 2nd summary deserving of its own post? A room temperature superconductor, if found and practical/abundant, would be one of the greatest discoveries in science.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3)
I don't think we'd want LEDs that are superconducting. That might lead to very little light emission as we need the power to be lost to electron holes to generate photons. What we'd ideally want are LEDs that are better at converting energy into light. Superconductivity seems counter-intuitive to that.
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but since we've never had superconducting LEDs, we don't know how they'd react.
Now super-conducting diodes, those would be awesome. Much better control of power flow. Could we
Re: (Score:2)
Nah, bad power supplies kill them in my experience of designing and selling LED units.
Re:2nd Summary (Score:4, Informative)
The cool thing about this is, if true, you could verify it in your kitchen.
Not really, the superconductive spots are tiny, far too tiny to actually measure resistance across. The researchers are claiming superconductivity based on magnetic effects, which while very interesting, isn't exactly something you'd do in your kitchen.
Re:2nd Summary (Score:5, Informative)
Well, the high temp super conductor research is extremely speculative and not at all practical. Thats not to say it isn't interesting and doesn't raise interesting questions, it is and it does.
The first problem is the practicality. The superconductivity they are reporting happens where two tiny grains of graphite meet (the soaking and baking part is, essentially, just to get them to meet in the right way, though I suppose trapped water molecules could also play a roll). Disturbing that interface destroys the superconductivity. There's no way to wire two points together using this effect, which makes it essentially useless from a practicality standpoint.
Which leads directly to the research's speculative nature. They can't wire two points together (not even tiny, tiny lengths) so there's no way to actually measure the resistance. They are claiming superconductivity based on an observed phase transition in magnetic properties when a field is applied. The transition they see is consistent with superconductivity, but most people wouldn't call it a silver bullet, "yes we are absolutely sure" kind of evidence. It could be some other effect we don't know about, in which case - NEATO! something new to study, or it could be superconductivity, in which case - NEATO! we've proved room temperature superconductors are empirically possible, we have an example to study which might pave the way.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3)
Your buckyball still isn't superconducting, just the regions where the two buckyballs are interfacing. So the route has to go through a research phase where we figure out what is so special about the interface between the two, then another research phase to determine if it's physically possible to string those regions together in a way that produces superconductivity over a usable distance. Then another phase where we try to figure out how actually construct the design we came up with in the last time.
Yes
Re: (Score:2)
This is Slashdot. Logic and reason have no place in speculative discussions about the future here!
You are right that it's *highly* speculative... but it's still pretty cool to consider... most of the time when we talk about "high temperature supeconductors", we're still talking about -70'C or colder. Some ceramics have limited superconductivity at temperatures of -50'C... to my (limited) knowledge, this is the first time anybody's observed superconductivity anywhere near room temperature. Of course geeks ar
Re: (Score:2)
You can get superconductivity at room temperature by varying other parameters too (generally to levels that are even harder to create/maintain than low temperature). I seem to remember an article on slashdot a couple years ago discussing room temperature superconductivity, only problem it required the material to be under several hundred thousand atmospheres of pressure.
Maybe something similar is happening here... the evaporating water causing suction at nanoscopic scales that nevertheless applies enormous
Re: (Score:2)
If there was a headline "Canadian Scientists invent room temperature superconductor" everyone would just think it was a joke.
(Well I did once hear a similar joke "researchers in Fairbanks, Alaska invent...
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, it does deserve an article for itself.
But room tempereature superconducting in graphite have been observed before, several times. Always with a very low signal to noise, but I guess the cheer number of observations is enough to hint that there is something there. It happens on several experimental setups, with several different arrangements of crystals, and nobody is able to point exactly what is superconducting, or how. That article is yet another step into understanding the phenomenum.
If'n'ain't Scawtch ... (Score:2)
It's crrrrrrrrap! A'not super-cunduhtivativity 'nuff ta-boot!
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Wow, that's a lot to say every time ... "Oi! Laddie, get me the fucking Sellotape ya yank-sassenach fannybaws!"
Actually, never mind -- I think I've heard one of my Scottish friends say something like that before. ;-)
Re: (Score:2)
You know my mum?
But, Mousie, thou art no thy lane
In proving foresight may be vain
The best laid schemes o' Mice and Men
Gang aft a-glape
An lea'e us nought tae fix the pain
But fucking sellotape
Re: (Score:2)
Ahh, gotta love Rabbie Burns.
Re: (Score:2)
But, Mousie, thou art no thy lane
In proving foresight may be vain
The best laid schemes o' Mice and Men
Gang aft a-glape
An lea'e us nought tae fix the pain
But fucking sellotape ya yank-sassenach fannybaws!
There fixed it.
Re: (Score:1)
Sincere apologies for my earlier outburst if it was felt to be offensive. I have a thing about sellotape, being a strong believer in fixing things with string.
On the other hand, terms such as "laddie" and "Rabbie", although mildly offensive, are really pathetic. Their use should be moderated, preferably with the controlling qualities of alcohol.
Re: (Score:2)
[slow clap]
Hot date (Score:5, Funny)
a semiconductor that does not typically enjoy superconductivity.
I didn't know semiconductors have fun.
Re: (Score:1)
Enjoy - 4. Possess and benefit from
[/pedantry]
Re: (Score:2)
a semiconductor that does not typically enjoy superconductivity.
I didn't know semiconductors have fun.
They do... but not as much fun as full time conductors.
Scotch tape... (Score:2)
Is there nothing you can't do...?
Then it is true... (Score:1)
In other news (Score:5, Funny)
really, really want... (Score:2)
...room-temperature superconductivity to be true. But this just feels an awful lot like polywater, cold fusion and the like -- something that would be amazingly cool, but has ambiguous or conflicting or incomplete evidence, and disappears when you look at it crosswise.
I sure hope it pans out. Cold fusion didn't (so far), but high-temp superconductivity (liquid-nitrogen temps) certainly did.
Re:really, really want... (Score:5, Interesting)
But yeah... I wouldn't hold my breath on this.
Duct tape is better (Score:1)
scotch tape fixes nothing (Score:2)
Amazing! (Score:3)
Scotch tape! The greatest invention since this inanimate carbon rod!
*scientist turns off TV in disgust*
"Aww, Dad! They were going to show some close-ups of the tape!"
Who cares about scotch tape? (Score:2)
Scotch tape is like announcing invention of the vacuum tube while story on the very next page is dedicated to rollout of sub-nm process.
Finding evidence room temperature superconductivity is even possible is huge... I hope Mattel is taking notes... some of us are still waiting for our hoverboards!!
Don't forget the (Score:2)
WD-40.
Re: (Score:3)
Duct Tape - For when something moves and shouldn't
WD-40 - For when something should move and won't
Hammer - For everything else
Re: (Score:1)
No, the hammer is for crushing nuts with.
Beer is for everything else. Or hard cider. Both are excellent lubricants too.
The abstract on the work from Leipzig (Score:4, Informative)
This is the sort of news for Nerds that I like (Score:2)
I'd rather news of scientific discovery and really cool stuff, then news about patents, frauds, etc ad nausium.
This kind of news is why I still visit slashdot!
So, basically, lead pencil supercomputing? (Score:2)
So, in other words, they shredded some pencil leads on scotch tape and called it superconducting at room temperature?
Not really about tape, about interfaces (Score:2)
Interfacial effects in electronic materials are interesting.
Alves et al reported [Nature Materials 7, 574 (2008)] high conductivity (metallic-like, not superconductive) at a junction obtained by simply placing the faces of thin crystals of two very poor organic conductors (TTF and TCNQ) into contact and allowing the crystals to self-laminate.
Interesting questions arise, including whether the conductivity is nearly 2-dimensional rather than fully 3-dimensional.
I tried to investigate this in an undergr