On 20/10/2020 15:43, Fredxx wrote:
On 17/10/2020 10:42:28, Richard wrote:
On 17/10/2020 10:35, harry wrote:
New superconductor found, works at room temperature.
Most important discovery of the decade?
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02895-0


So this isn't actually a breakthrough.

It is possibly a similar breakthrough to a field-effect transistor that
was proposed in 1925.

More comparable with the very first laser which also required an
impressive sized perfect gemstone and a room full of kit to work.


Or wouldn't you consider that a pretty useless device in 1925 could ever
result in something like the iPhone?

Sorry, I would say room temperature superconductivity is a breakthrough.
There may well be other similar materials that exhibit the same effect
at pressures we may be more used to.

If there were they would probably have been found by now.

Magnesium diboride was the last surprise moderately high temperature
superconductor family discovery at 39K in 2001.

https://www2.lbl.gov/Science-Article...hen-Louie.html

Superconductors that will work at LN2 temperatures are about the best we
have got right now but they are ceramics and as brittle as hell.
Theoreticians are still trying to figure out exactly why they work.

League table is here and up to date:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-t...tivity#History

--
Regards,
Martin Brown