3 ms·

The material containing lead is very unfortunate. I have no doubts that (if it indeed turns out to be a superconductor) humans will use it anyway in any context

The material containing lead is very unfortunate. I have no doubts that (if it indeed turns out to be a superconductor) humans will use it anyway in any context where it provides even a slight benefit (cf. just in the lead department: leaded gasoline, leaded solder, etc.).

dudeinjapan 3y ago
Once room temp superconductivity is shown to be possible, I bet we’ll find non-lead materials that can do it too.
redox99 3y ago
Lead solder is mostly ok. Arguably lead free solder has been much more damaging for the environment because of all the e-waste it created.
- qiqitori 3y ago
  > lead free solder has been much more damaging for the environment because of all the e-waste it created. We're getting quite off-topic here (I guess I should have used different examples), but I would be interested where you got that information from. Most consumer electronics devices do not break prematurely, and especially not due to soldering issues. Source: I buy most electronics second-hand, I regularly repair electronics RoHS and not RoHS, I use lead-free solder and occasionally leaded solder, I watch a bunch of Youtube videos by other people who repair a bunch of electronics, just for fun. (You'll always (and easily) find someone who knows more than me, and it's entirely possible that you do.) Most consumer electronics devices are retired because their owners got something shinier, or if "broken", it's the battery, display, or some important connector. If something is "actually" broken, it's usually due to power ICs, capacitors, fuses. (You could of course argue that some broken connectors are a case of a soldering issue, but yeah, it's not like I haven't seen broken connectors that were actually soldered using leaded solder, so things can get kind of muddy there)
  - scrlk 3y ago
    Back in the 00s, the transition to lead free solder was blamed for the high failure rate of BGA packages found in consoles and GPUs. One of the theories at the time was that the poor thermal design of these devices (the most notable example being the Xbox 360) lead to cracks in the solder balls after repeated thermal cycling.
    - robocat 3y ago
      > poor thermal design Also tin whiskers are a definite problem. https://www.google.com/search?q=lead-free+whiskers&tbm=isch https://www.google.com/search?q=lead-free+whiskers&tbm=isch https://www.analog.com/en/technical-articles/tin-whiskers-are-real-and-complex.html https://www.analog.com/en/technical-articles/tin-whiskers-ar...
willis936 3y ago
This point downplays just how many hazardous materials are around us at all times. Yes, heavy metal exposure is bad and we did some really stupid things with lead last century. We still use lead acid batteries everywhere and it is not causing dementia or leeching into groundwater. The materials don't matter, how they are handled does.
ajuc 3y ago
It's one thing to use toxic materials in water pipes, fuel or painting your walls with it. It's completely different thing to use them in devices that are enclosed and that you never interact with directly, like motors, batteries, electronic components or wires. And in fact we're using lead in car batteries and it's not a problem. BTW most heavy metals are toxic, including copper. It's just less readily absorbed and accumulated in our bodies.

dudeinjapan 3y ago

Once room temp superconductivity is shown to be possible, I bet we’ll find non-lead materials that can do it too.

redox99 3y ago

Lead solder is mostly ok. Arguably lead free solder has been much more damaging for the environment because of all the e-waste it created.

qiqitori 3y ago
> lead free solder has been much more damaging for the environment because of all the e-waste it created. We're getting quite off-topic here (I guess I should have used different examples), but I would be interested where you got that information from. Most consumer electronics devices do not break prematurely, and especially not due to soldering issues. Source: I buy most electronics second-hand, I regularly repair electronics RoHS and not RoHS, I use lead-free solder and occasionally leaded solder, I watch a bunch of Youtube videos by other people who repair a bunch of electronics, just for fun. (You'll always (and easily) find someone who knows more than me, and it's entirely possible that you do.) Most consumer electronics devices are retired because their owners got something shinier, or if "broken", it's the battery, display, or some important connector. If something is "actually" broken, it's usually due to power ICs, capacitors, fuses. (You could of course argue that some broken connectors are a case of a soldering issue, but yeah, it's not like I haven't seen broken connectors that were actually soldered using leaded solder, so things can get kind of muddy there)
- scrlk 3y ago
  Back in the 00s, the transition to lead free solder was blamed for the high failure rate of BGA packages found in consoles and GPUs. One of the theories at the time was that the poor thermal design of these devices (the most notable example being the Xbox 360) lead to cracks in the solder balls after repeated thermal cycling.
  - robocat 3y ago
    > poor thermal design Also tin whiskers are a definite problem. https://www.google.com/search?q=lead-free+whiskers&tbm=isch https://www.google.com/search?q=lead-free+whiskers&tbm=isch https://www.analog.com/en/technical-articles/tin-whiskers-are-real-and-complex.html https://www.analog.com/en/technical-articles/tin-whiskers-ar...

willis936 3y ago

This point downplays just how many hazardous materials are around us at all times. Yes, heavy metal exposure is bad and we did some really stupid things with lead last century. We still use lead acid batteries everywhere and it is not causing dementia or leeching into groundwater. The materials don't matter, how they are handled does.

ajuc 3y ago

It's one thing to use toxic materials in water pipes, fuel or painting your walls with it. It's completely different thing to use them in devices that are enclosed and that you never interact with directly, like motors, batteries, electronic components or wires. And in fact we're using lead in car batteries and it's not a problem. BTW most heavy metals are toxic, including copper. It's just less readily absorbed and accumulated in our bodies.