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This Strange Metal Might Be the Newest State of Matter
Popular Mechanics ^
| 12 may 2015
| John Wenz
Posted on 05/14/2015 10:48:49 AM PDT by ShadowAce
Researchers at Japan's Tohoku University are making a bold claim: an entirely new state of matter. The team, led by Kosmas Prassides, says they've created what's called a Jahn-Teller metal by inserting rubidium, a strange alkali metal element, into buckyballs, a pure carbon structure which has a spherical shape from a series of interlocking polygons (think of the Epcot Center, but in microscopic size.)
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Buckyballs, which are somewhat related to other supermaterials like graphene and carbon nanotubes, are already known for their superconductive capabilities. Here, while combining buckyballs and rubidium, the researchers created a complex crystalline structure that seemed to conduct, insulate, and magnetize while acting as a metal. It goes far beyond what ordinary matter can do, Motherboard explains.
We all know solids, liquids, gases, and, probably, plasmas, but beyond these there's an entire catalog of matter alternatives: BoseEinstein condensate, degenerate matter, supersolids/superfluids, quark-gluon plasma, etc. The difference is that all those alternatives are lab-created and don't have much place out in the real world of nature. The Prassides group's new material is one of those states.
So what's the big deal? Applying pressure to the compound when it's in the conductor/insulator phase turns it into the weird state of matter, and also makes it superconductive at (relatively) high temperatures. That second part has to be replicated by other scientists in other labs under the same conditions, but if it's true, that's your "whoa" moment.
We know that there are high-temperature superconductorsmaterials that become superconductive as warm as -211 degrees Fahrenheit. That is still really cold. But most superconductors that we know of need to be barely above absolute zero. Understanding and then mastering high-temperature superconductors, which this weird state of matter could help researchers to do, could make all sorts of new things possible in computing, transportation, infrastructure ... sort of everything. Discoveries of superinsulators in 2008 sort of hinted that this state of matter was possible, but confirmation would be a game changer for materials science.
Source: Motherboard via Science Alert
Note: A previous version of this article said the material in this study could become superconductive at -211 degrees F. In fact, the materials in this study reached only as high as about -397 degrees F.
TOPICS: Science; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: alkalimetal; buckyballs; carbon; cooperpairs; jahnteller; jahntellereffect; jahntellermetal; jahntellermetals; matter; metal; rubidium; stringtheory; superconductivity; superconductor; superconductors
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To: PUGACHEV
Man, I haven’t heard Waits in a long time.
21
posted on
05/14/2015 1:05:51 PM PDT
by
Army Air Corps
(Four Fried Chickens and a Coke)
To: Army Air Corps
“It slices, it dices, and it makes Julienne fries!”
And behold the short work it makes of this tin can, then makes the finest slices on this tomato!!! BUT WAIT, there’s more!!!
22
posted on
05/14/2015 1:06:23 PM PDT
by
dsrtsage
(One half of all people have below average IQ. In the US the number is 54%)
To: Vinnie
“I knew, I knew it. The Salad Shooter is back!!
They finally found a use for that warehouse full of them.”
I know a guy that has a bunch of locking medicine cabinets that he was going to sell for a fortune back in the 80’s.
Seriously, he trashed the cabinets but still has the VHS of his TV ad.
To: PUGACHEV
24
posted on
05/14/2015 1:07:54 PM PDT
by
Army Air Corps
(Four Fried Chickens and a Coke)
To: Poison Pill
25
posted on
05/14/2015 1:12:35 PM PDT
by
frithguild
(The warmth and goodness of Gaia is a nuclear reactor in the Earth's core that burns Thorium)
To: ShadowAce
Thanks....sent to MGD. He’s the “metals man” - I’m just a computer geek.
26
posted on
05/14/2015 1:46:12 PM PDT
by
Mygirlsmom
(The only cleaning "Woman of the People" HRC has done in the last 25 yrs was wiping her server.)
To: ShadowAce
rubidium (radioactive) and crystals are used in cellphone base stations for precision timing
27
posted on
05/14/2015 2:19:56 PM PDT
by
zzwhale
To: PUGACHEV
28
posted on
05/14/2015 3:08:12 PM PDT
by
Neidermeyer
("Our courts should not be collection agencies for crooks." — John Waihee, Governor of Hawaii, 1986-)
To: ShadowAce
29
posted on
05/14/2015 4:59:16 PM PDT
by
TexasTransplant
(Idiocracy used to just be a Movie... Live every day as your last...one day you will be right)
To: Darksheare
30
posted on
05/14/2015 8:39:36 PM PDT
by
NoCmpromiz
(John 14:6 is a non-pluralistic comment.)
To: NoCmpromiz
He lost me at recipriction dinglearm.
31
posted on
05/14/2015 8:48:23 PM PDT
by
MaxMax
(Call the local GOP and ask how you can support CRUZ for POTUS, Make them talk!)
To: MaxMax
I'm thinking it's something designed by
Sirius Cybernetics where their fundamental design flaws are completely hidden by their superficial design flaws.
I think I'll wander over to the Nutri-Matic for a cup of something.
;-)
32
posted on
05/14/2015 9:09:28 PM PDT
by
NoCmpromiz
(John 14:6 is a non-pluralistic comment.)
To: TexasGator
I understand that a switch is a mechanical break between two conductors, not a property of the material the switch is made of.
33
posted on
05/15/2015 6:57:57 AM PDT
by
Fireone
(Impeach and imprison, NOW! Treason and murder are still crimes.)
To: Fireone
“I understand that a switch is a mechanical break between two conductors, not a property of the material the switch is made of.”
Did you get to vacuum tubes and transistors?
Or are you just being obstinate?
To: TexasGator
No need to get snarky. I’m not a physicist, chemist, nor electrician. Just trying to make common sense of this new material.
35
posted on
05/15/2015 11:07:56 AM PDT
by
Fireone
(Impeach and imprison, NOW! Treason and murder are still crimes.)
To: Fireone
“No need to get snarky. Im not a physicist, chemist, nor electrician. Just trying to make common sense of this new material.”
I gave you three examples of ON!!!!!!!!!! OFF!!!!!!!!!
OFF =========== INSULATOR ======== NO CURRENT FLOW
ON ============ CONDUCTOR ======== CURRENT FLOW
It is really very simple. The complicated part is understanding how the electrons are made to flow inside the molecular structure but no need to understand that anymore than you need to know how electrons move through the molecular structure of a copper wire.
To: 2ndDivisionVet
37
posted on
05/17/2015 7:15:49 AM PDT
by
SunkenCiv
(What do we want? REGIME CHANGE! When do we want it? NOW!)
To: 6SJ7; AdmSmith; AFPhys; Arkinsaw; allmost; aristotleman; autumnraine; bajabaja; ...
38
posted on
05/17/2015 7:16:43 AM PDT
by
SunkenCiv
(What do we want? REGIME CHANGE! When do we want it? NOW!)
Jahn-Teller keyword topics from the FRchives:
39
posted on
07/25/2015 6:45:10 PM PDT
by
SunkenCiv
(What do we want? REGIME CHANGE! When do we want it? NOW)
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