[HN Gopher] Heated Debate Rises over Hints of Superconductivity ...
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Heated Debate Rises over Hints of Superconductivity Above Boiling
Temperatures
Author : taubek
Score : 44 points
Date : 2022-04-17 08:07 UTC (14 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.insidescience.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.insidescience.org)
| mrtnmcc wrote:
| May be relevant to theories about the Earth's core and magnetic
| field.
| [deleted]
| DiabloD3 wrote:
| Somebody waited their entire career to write that headline.
| dvh wrote:
| "Foot Heads Arms Body"
|
| On 22 June 1978, The Guardian ran an article with the headline
| "Foot hits back on Nazi comparison". Reader David C. Allan of
| Edinburgh responded with a letter to the editor, which the
| paper ran on 27 June. Decrying the headline's apparent pun,
| Allen suggested that, if Foot were in future to be appointed
| Secretary of State for Defence, The Guardian might cover it
| under the headline "Foot Heads Arms Body". The belief later
| gained currency that The Times actually had run the headline.
| Some decades later, Martyn Cornell recalled the story as true,
| saying he had written the headline himself as a Times subeditor
| around 1986. The headline does not, however, appear in The
| Times Digital Archive, which includes every day's newspaper
| from 1785 into the 21st century.
| pcl wrote:
| That reminds me of the classic "Headless Body in Topless Bar"
| headline: https://nypost.com/2015/06/09/new-york-post-editor-
| and-film-...
| 8bitsrule wrote:
| Related: _Physics_ 2019 article "A Prediction for "Hot"
| Superconductivity" [https://physics.aps.org/articles/v12/96]
| (followed by 9 citations)
| nootropicat wrote:
| While stable high temperature superconductors would usher in a
| scifi revolution alone, their critical magnetic field is also
| very interesting. Not an expert in the field, but from what I
| gather 200T would be enough for car sized proton-boron fusion
| power plants.
| Trouble_007 wrote:
| High-Temperature Superconductors (high-Tc or HTS) :
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-temperature_superconducti...
| Havoc wrote:
| To what end?
|
| Surely room temp at atmosphere is the ultimate prize? Room temp
| has already been achieved so I would have thought lowest pressure
| is now the metric that matters
| ianai wrote:
| RT superconductivity has been discovered? When/where/what?
| Panzer04 wrote:
| Likely referring to high-pressure room temperature
| superconductivity, which is about as practical as the low
| temperature versions (if not even less so)
| Havoc wrote:
| >RT superconductivity has been discovered? When/where/what?
|
| See first sentence of article we're commenting on
| magicalhippo wrote:
| As I understand it, superconductors aren't quite as binary as
| the media portrays them as.
|
| The temperature, current density and magnetic fields they can
| tolerate while remaining superconducting varies between the
| various kinds of superconductors.
|
| Most interesting use-cases outside the lab would involve at
| least non-trivial current densities, so that's one metric where
| one might still want to search for a better material even
| though one already exists.
| willis936 wrote:
| LTS are pretty binary compared to HTS. Look at the resistance
| vs. temperature plots of different cables at a given current
| and magnetic field.
|
| Additionally, quench propagation is much slower in HTS so
| safe current dumping has a lot more time between quench
| detection and thermal runaway.
|
| https://youtu.be/xJ2h3vbOag4&t=21m58s
| magicalhippo wrote:
| Binary was a poor choice of words I guess.
|
| My point was that if the current material only supports
| very low current densities at this high temperature, then
| that restricts the use-cases for it. I feel much of the
| popular science press makes it sound like all
| superconductors are equal, apart from the critical
| temperature.
| willis936 wrote:
| Ah, yes. If superconductors were actual magic and had
| infinite current and magnetic field capacities our
| society would look pretty different right now. :)
| xoa wrote:
| > _Surely room temp at atmosphere is the ultimate prize?_
|
| First, the science and engineering is interesting regardless.
| Better understanding of superconductivity and how we can
| achieve it will be helpful in applying it anywhere. Second,
| while RT is clearly a huge deal hotter is always better if
| possible. It means it can be used with less cooling in more
| extreme environments which would further expand the
| possibilities in industry. Just as there has been effort to
| make (and you can buy) electronics that are functional in
| extreme environmental and high radiation conditions that would
| kill consumer kit.
|
| Also, "achieved" is doing quite a bit of work in your second
| sentence. Other material properties, including as you say
| operating pressure but also more basic stuff like pure
| flexibility or strength are important in how it can be used in
| practice right? Research pushing other limits may pay off down
| the road in new ideas elsewhere. Obviously speculative, it may
| not, but it's well worth pursuing many avenues in such a
| potentially valuable area even if most are dead ends.
| Trouble_007 wrote:
| _> To what end?<_ : Different Horses for different Courses
|
| Liquid Nitrogen : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_nitrogen
|
| Search: 'High Pressure Liquid Nitrogen Superconductors' @DDG :
| <https://html.duckduckgo.com/html?q='High Pressure Liquid
| Nit...>
|
| Railgun : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railgun
|
| _> A railgun is a linear motor device,
| typically designed as a weapon, that uses electromagnetic force
| to launch high velocity projectiles.<*
|
| Pentagon to build nuclear micro-reactor to power far-flung-
| bases : https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-
| military/2022/04/15/...
|
| Scramjet : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scramjet
|
| Just a Thought._
|
| Edit: Add; Russia-Ukraine Conflict Prompted US to Develop
| Autonomous Drone-Swarms And 1,000-Mile Cannon :
|
| https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/russia-ukraine-co...
|
| - Edit:2 fixed @DDG search URL, truncated in first edit!
| derefr wrote:
| Inside fusion reactors? They're pretty hot.
| Animats wrote:
| _Room temperature superconductivity reportedly appeared at 267
| gigapascals, more than 2,400 times the pressure at the bottom of
| the Mariana Trench, the deepest point in the ocean._
|
| That's a lot of pressure. That's like 40x the pressure needed to
| make diamonds.
| iancmceachern wrote:
| It's funny, this is like a how many engineers does it take
| joke.
|
| The whole point in finding a room temperature super conductor
| is that it's difficult to maintain those low temperatures in
| practice. So if we want to put super conductors in practice, we
| need to figure out how to do it a different, more practical
| way. 40x the pressure needed to make diamonds doesn't seem
| practical. Maybe there is some material property magic like
| thermal quenching or tempering that could allow for a final
| product that has those kind of internal pressures in a steady
| state object.
|
| You see this everywhere in the engineering world. I'm not
| saying this particular work will not lead somewhere, just that
| it is an example of a broader challenge I've seen in
| engineering, bridging the gap between practical every day use
| and research.
| s1artibartfast wrote:
| I think you see it everywhere because you essentially
| described exploratory science vs engineering. First humans
| understand how the physical world behaves, then they see if
| that knowledge is usable.
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