Thanks BenLurkin. Superconductivity ping.
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Posted on 03/30/2019 12:01:24 PM PDT by BenLurkin
For more than a century, physicists have hunted for superconductivity in warmer materials....
In 1986, researchers uncovered ceramics that were superconductive at temperatures as high as 30 degrees above absolute zero, or minus 406 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 243 degrees Celsius). Later, in the 1990s, researchers first looked in earnest at very high pressures, to see if they might reveal new kinds of superconductors.
The next big breakthrough came in 2001, when researchers showed that magnesium diboride (MgB2) was superconductive at 39 degrees above absolute zero, or minus 389 F (minus 234 C).
Since then, the hunt for warm superconductors has shifted in two key ways: Materials scientists realized that lighter elements offered tantalizing possibilities for superconduction. Meanwhile, computer models advanced to the point where theorists could predict in advance precisely how materials might behave in extreme circumstances.
In chemistry, a metal is pretty much any collection of atoms bonded together because they sit in a free-flowing soup of electrons. Most materials that we call metals, like copper or iron, are metallic at room temperature and at comfortable atmospheric pressures. But other materials can become metals in more-extreme environments.
That leaves researchers hunting for materials containing lots of hydrogen that will form metals — and, hopefully, become superconductive, at achievable pressures.
Right now, Boeri said, theorists working with computer models offer experimentalists materials that may be superconductors. And the experimentalists pick the best options to test out.
Hemley and his team's "room temperature superconductor," LaH10, appears to be the most exciting result yet from this new era of research. Crushed to about 1 million times the pressure of Earth's atmosphere (200 gigapascals) between the points of two counterposed diamonds, a sample of LaH10 appears to become superconductive at 260 degrees above absolute zero, or 8 F (minus 13 C).
(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...
Good news. Electricity passes resistance free.
Bad news. Do not give up your winter coat to avoid freezing to death.
This is really cool stuff.
I have said many times here on FR and to friends and family - many if not most of the physical problems we face today will be solved by future technologies. Recent history (last century) proves this is true. The growth curve in technology and R&D today in all fields of science is astounding compared to when I was in college (hard science major and graduate) 30 plus years ago.
The future will be amazing and exciting if we can preserve freedom and capitalism.
Future news brief: The good news is that they found a superconductor. Bad news is it takes all the energy of all power plants to generate it and it lasts millisecond.
Thanks BenLurkin. Superconductivity ping.
There were people who witnessed via news accounts the Wright Brothers' first flight and the first man on the moon. Not to mention the evolution of jet power.
We grew up with a 4 digit telephone number and party lines on a rotary phone and are now blessed with smart phones with live video.
You're right, technology is advancing exponentially and I can't even begin to imagine what it holds in store for us 25 years from now or even 100 years...........I'd love to be around to see it.
A positive outlook are always appreciated.
Should be lots of the stuff in Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, and Uran us. Space miners start you rockets ...
“a metal is pretty much any collection of atoms bonded together because they sit in a free-flowing soup of electrons”
Good line.
My brother’s dissertation on classical superconductivity in the 60s; I will forward this above absolute zero stuff to him.
Absolutely agree with your prediction of the geometric improvement in technology, although it is impossible to predict what exactly will be the course. In addition to social and economic “engineering”, which is not science and should be avoided, any attempt at stasis (sustainability)should be avoided too.
Hemley and his team’s “room temperature superconductor,” LaH10, appears to be the most exciting result yet from this new era of research. Crushed to about 1 million times the pressure of Earth’s atmosphere (200 gigapascals) between the points of two counterposed diamonds, a sample of LaH10 appears to become superconductive at 260 degrees above absolute zero, or 8 F (minus 13 C).
...
The pressure seems like a deal breaker to me.
There was a time when the only solid-state lasers had to be operated at liquid nitrogen temperatures (-196°C), and emitted only infrared light.
Today they operate at room temperature and above, emit visible light at high intensity, and cost just a few dollars. They are in every CD and DVD player, as well as laser pointers and 3-D printers, and elsewhere.
Cool. Quite literally.
The future may just be populated by gender confused dopes and lemmings too, at the rate are non-education education is going.
Thus, freedom and capitalism are the most important things to drive a new future.
We all (certainly I do) lose sight of how exciting the future can be in this lifetime (and more importantly eternity) because so many of us (around here at least) are consumed with defending our basic freedom and capitalism.
We are engaged in a vicious battle over our future because so many have been convinced that a legislated equal system of misery and centralized control is preferable to a free market where slackers inevitably fail. One achieves the greatest of things and the other achieves mediocrity in equality.
I am happier and more cheerful when I try to imagine all of the incredible things to come. A good high school and college class to teach this FACT would be to look at how capitalism and freedom in the west has benefited the entire world as their lives have become better because of our culture based on freedom. We allow the left to erase this FACT to our ultimate demise and I am trying very hard to teach this to my children who now face an education system in America that tells them the exact opposite.
I pray that enough people in our nation recognize this FACT in their gut even if they fail to verbalize it.
See 17 above ;)
Resistance is Futile
I don’t know about superconductors or warmer materials, but a famous maestro told me I could put a balm on a coffee burn.
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