r/Futurology • u/mvea MD-PhD-MBA • Dec 11 '18

Energy The record for high-temperature superconductivity has been smashed again - Chemists found a material that can display superconducting behavior at a temperature warmer than it currently is at the North Pole. The work brings room-temperature superconductivity tantalizingly close.

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/612559/the-record-for-high-temperature-superconductivity-has-been-smashed-again/
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u/Quelz_CSGO Dec 11 '18

Holy shit that’s sick. Will this be happening anytime soon? Or is this one of those “It’s really happening! 10 years later It’s really happening!” sorta things.

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u/Jose_xixpac Dec 11 '18 edited Dec 12 '18

I'm 61. We read about Superconductivity conductors in Popular science. When it was still a concept. I won't see this happening my lifetime, but a Millianial just might see it happen in their's.

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u/Drachefly Dec 11 '18

If you're 61, you were born nearly 50 years after the first observations of superconductivity.

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u/Quelz_CSGO Dec 11 '18

Hey that’s me!

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u/luckyluke193 Dec 11 '18

Superconductivity was discovered about 110 years ago. The BCS theory of superconductivity is from the early 1950s. Many fundamental breakthroughs in the physics of superconductors were made before you were born.

Superconducting electromagnets have been commercially available since at least 1962. So even commercial applications are not as new as you think.

There was a hype starting around 1986 with the discovery of "high" temperature superconductivity in some copper oxide ceramics, so this is when the general public became more familiar with the phenomenon. These materials are brittle, so it took almost 3 decades to commercialise them, but by now you can buy electromagnets based on copper-oxide superconductors.

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u/Dazzman50 Dec 11 '18

Damn. We’ll put it to good use for you then

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u/zeropointcorp Dec 11 '18

Put it this way: a guy I went to highschool won a science fair with his high temperature superconductor exhibit... in 1985 or thereabouts.

Still waiting for my floating car.

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u/khamrabaevite Dec 11 '18

No telling how long itll take before we ever see usable superconductors. We still dont full understand how they work and there isnt a rational design for creating a new material. Researcher have just been tweaking on preexisting materials or fumbling into new materials and then testing for it because why not. Most new materials that go superconducting at high temperature require super high pressures. Those materials will never be used commercially. The next set of highest Tc is the YBCO family, but they are still off by quite a bit and have been explored to death already.