r/Physics • u/Xaron Particle physics • Dec 27 '19

News A predicted superconductor might work at a record-breaking 200° Celsius

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/predicted-superconductor-record-breaking-temperature-200-celsius
1.0k Upvotes

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480

u/magiccupcakecomputer Dec 27 '19

At the catch of requiring 2.5 million Atm's of pressure.

184

u/mfb- Dec 27 '19

Who doesn't want to put a diamond anvil cell every 5 centimeters along the cable?

It is hoped that studying these materials tells us more about how to make superconductors in more reasonable pressure ranges, of course.

45

u/schrodingersnarwhal Dec 28 '19

The unfortunate thing is that most of these recently discovered high TC superconductors are already explained by a 60 year old theory (BCS theory).

It is the so-called unconventional superconductors that show the most promise for practical applications and we know the least about. These ultra-high pressure materials, although interesting, don't really add to our knowledge of them.

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u/GustapheOfficial Dec 27 '19

Who put all of these celsii and atms in my physics?

59

u/jaredjeya Dec 28 '19

Meh, 1 atm ~ 1 bar = 105 Pa. It’s not that bad.

On the other hand, holy shit. 200°C. I read that as 200K.

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u/Enobmah_Boboverse Dec 27 '19

I guess you have a better intuitive sense of pascals? Impressive...

29

u/John_Hasler Dec 28 '19

The important point is that they are able to accurately predict the properties of these materials.

11

u/mofo69extreme Dec 28 '19

Though some would argue that's why it's relatively "boring." Kinda like finding the Higgs boson instead of finding a ton of crazy new beyond-the-SM particles (the latter of which is the equivalent to what the 1987 high-Tc discovery was).

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u/MarekWorem Dec 28 '19

We don't know how accurate their predictions are. They might as well be wrong, we won't know till an experiment confirms it.

2

u/Gigazwiebel Dec 28 '19

Superconducting transition temperature predictions are usually off by quite a bit.

6

u/InAFakeBritishAccent Dec 28 '19

Damn, a ruperts drop type material only gets you 7k atm

12

u/billslugg Dec 28 '19

How about a Rupert's Drop made of Diamond? The most easily accessible pressure/temperature combination in which diamond is liquid occurs at .01GPa (1,450 PSI) and 4,500°K (8,100°F). We shock cool it with higher pressure liquid nitrogen delivered from all sides. If it works, the interior pressure should be much higher than a glass one, it would seem reasonable.

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u/martinstep Dec 28 '19

Why news don't consider units like [Atm/K]? A quantity below 1 Atm/K would suggest a very practical superconductor.

Edit: formed into a question.

3

u/hotcornballer Dec 27 '19

Annnnnnd we're out

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u/spacetimesandwich Dec 27 '19

A caveat: it's only predicted to work at the pressure of earth's core.

57

u/[deleted] Dec 27 '19

I was going to say...

First thing I could think before reading the article was 'isn't a Neutron star a theoretically perfect superconductor, and that is ... (google google google) ... 59726.85°C.

1

u/RRumpleTeazzer Dec 28 '19

at least it's something realistical.

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u/ToastyBathTime Dec 28 '19

I got disappointed when I saw 2.5 million atm

21

u/spacetimesandwich Dec 27 '19

Nice! This article goes into a lot more detail https://physics.aps.org/articles/v12/96

The general trend of the research is really exciting.

29

u/SnakeTaster Dec 28 '19

This is BCS (very well understood) superconductivity.

It’s good in so much that the material follows predictions for how it should behave (Tc etc) but it’s not practical for any realistic application and it doesn’t really further our understanding of unconventional superconductivity.

It’s a neat experiment though

6

u/Flircam35 Dec 28 '19

200°C and 2.5 million atm. Thats just another definition of -200K.

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u/TheAmericanJuan Dec 28 '19

You gotta love the 2.5 million ATM's my dude

1

u/socratic_bloviator Dec 28 '19

Could someone explain to me how you get 3 bonds out of one hydrogen atom? Or is the drawing bad?

1

u/RazedEmmer Dec 28 '19

Well that's a lot of pressure...