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WorldWeird: A real room temperature superconductor

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    • CommentAuthorKosmopolit
    • CommentTimeMar 18th 2008
     (1458.1)
    Until now "high temperature superconductors" were compounds that "only" needed to be cooled to -80 C.

    Now researchers in Canada and Germamy claim to have developed a compound that can superconduct without refrigeration..
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      CommentAuthorJoe Paoli
    • CommentTimeMar 20th 2008
     (1458.2)
    This is revolutionary, if true. I've been fascinated with room-temperature superconducting for years.

    Electronics that don't heat up.
    Reduction in power consumption since heat represents electricity lost to resistance.

    Think of how much easier it will be to use alternate energy sources like solar or wind if required power draw for home wiring and power draw drops significantly.
    Think of server rooms that no longer require air conditioning.

    Ironically, I just read about a huge advance in water-cooled chips that could reclaim the heat from processors, eventually using it to heat nearby structures.
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      CommentAuthorJoe Paoli
    • CommentTimeMar 23rd 2008 edited
     (1458.3)
    Aaaaand, no.

    The technique produced results at 16 Kelvin, which - while fairly balmy temperature for superconducting - is not very close to room temperature. Like, at all.
    • CommentAuthorKosmopolit
    • CommentTimeMar 23rd 2008
     (1458.4)
    Yeah the original story has been updated:

    Editor's Note: This is a slightly corrected version of the original story, which intimated that the silicon compound was tested at room temperature. It was not. However, nor was it "supercooled," so it is expected to lead to room-temperature superconductivity in the future.)

    Damn it. Once again the future makes me its bitch.
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      CommentAuthorJoe Paoli
    • CommentTimeMar 25th 2008
     (1458.5)
    @Kosmopolit
    Damn it. Once again the future makes me its bitch.
    It's still a promising technique, but we still have a long way to go before we can even wire the base in Antarctica with ambient temperature superconducting wire, sadly.

    I think we'll have optical processors before we have superconducting pcs.

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