Here Are All of the Amazing Ways in Which Room-Temperature Superconductors Can Change the World
27.07.2023 - 03:33
/ wccftech.com
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Superconductors that can operate under normal ambient temperature and pressure have long been considered the holy grail of physics, replete with promises of revolutionizing everything from electricity transmission and transportation to electronics and nuclear fusion, all due to the miracle material’s property of offering virtually no resistance to the passage of electric current.
A recent paper gave us some of the most tantalizing signs yet regarding the realization of this long-held dream. Given the fact that one of the core findings of the paper was recently verified, the study remains quite promising.
Back in March 2023, a University of Rochester (UoR) team led by Ranga P. Dias reported evidence of superconductivity at 20.85 degree Celsius in a nitrogen-doped lutetium hydride compound. The only caveat: superconductivity in the study required a pressure of 10 kilobars or 9,900 atmospheres. Bear in mind that the team’s latest paper is a continuation of an earlier effort back in 2020, which was retracted due to issues with how the data for that study was processed and analyzed.
In May 2023, a team of physicists at Nanjing University tried but failed to replicate the results of the UoR study. While the Nanjing team was able to create a compound that resembled the one postulated in the UoR study, the material did not display any superconductivity, even at super-cold temperatures. Crucially, the Nanjing team did not outrightly reject the UoR study but pointed to the possibility of an insufficient quantity of the nitrogen dopant in their compound for the lack of superconductivity.
Then, in June 2023, a group of researchers at the University of Illinois created the next big ripple in this interesting saga. The team was able to verify the disappearance of electrical resistance in the compound identified in the UoR study, granting a huge boost to Dias’ efforts in the process. Do note that this phenomenon was observed at a temperature of 2.78 degree Celsius, a material deviation from the ambient temperature cited in the UoR study.
It remains to be seen whether the silvery-white rare earth metal lutetium turns out to be the holy grail for room-temperature superconductivity. Its prospects certainly appear brighter after the quasi-confirmation by the University of Illinois researchers.
So, how would a world dominated by room-temperature superconductors look like? Let’s find out.
In India, with its creaking electrical infrastructure, electricity transmission losses are as high as 30 percent! In a world dominated by superconductors, such transmission losses would be non-existent, freeing up a lot of spare capacity that can then be idled to reduce carbon emissions from India’s fossil fuel-reliant power plants. Even in the