4 ms·

I no nothing about superconductors. And have been largely ignoring this until it seemed more certain. Can someone ELI5 why this matters? What does it enable te

I no nothing about superconductors. And have been largely ignoring this until it seemed more certain. Can someone ELI5 why this matters? What does it enable technologically? Flying cars? Fusion reactors? Magic fix for global warming?

trolan 3y ago
No resistance in wires means limitless power lines, phone lines, batteries charge instantly..
- tartrate 3y ago
  Now how about some practical implications rather than theoretical?
  - moolcool 3y ago
    MRI machines will get much better/cheaper. They use superconductors already, but are very hard and expensive to keep at their super-cold operating temperature.
  - shivekkhurana 3y ago
    Hoverboards.
    - vasili111 3y ago
      Is this a joke or are you serious?
      - sonusario 3y ago
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KtzyZKSuls https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KtzyZKSuls
- moolcool 3y ago
  > batteries charge instantly Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't there still be a bottleneck on the battery chemistry itself?
  - luguenth 3y ago
    The Superconductor would also store the Energy. It could instantly release and take in energy. So this would also be the battery
    - vasili111 3y ago
      > It could instantly release and take in energy. In that case, can it be used to create new type of explosives?
Tade0 3y ago
Everything that involves powerful magnets and benefits from making things float - like bearings. Robots and exoskeletons come to mind. One of the more bonkers applications would be to wrap Mars around the equator with it, creating an artificial magnetosphere. Temperatures on Mars are pretty low, but during the Martian summer they get to a nice 20°C there, so currently available superconductors are not up to the task.
- stuckinhell 3y ago
  Whoa, where can I read more about something like that ?!
anigbrowl 3y ago
Conventional conductors have resistance, so when you run electrical current through them they heat up; this is why laptops and desktops have fans to cool the chips, why phones get hot and so on. Superconductors transmit energy without resistance, so the heating problem goes away and the energy costs of running the device go way, way down. Basically you can pump more through smaller wires without worrying about them melting. This means that just about any electronic/electrical device could be run more cheaply, safely, and at a smaller scale. Advanced tech like MRI machines, maglev trains, and quantum computers all use superconductivity now, but are enormously bulky and expensive because they require extreme cooling using liquid helium (which is in short supply). Room temperature super conductors can dispense with all that, so instead of a quantum computer being the size and power draw of a refrigerator (because it is in fact mostly refrigerator) it could go in your wristwatch. Superconductors also expel magnetic fields, which in practical terms means they repel magnets. And they only repel, without being attracted to magnets at all, like iron or the poles of other magnets. So you can use them for levitation. And because superconductors have zero resistance, if you put energy into a superconducting coil it stays there forever, just circling round and round the coil. This LK-99 material people are talking about is an alloy of lead and copper, and it's not that difficult or expensive to make. The raw materials are fairly cheap, and the production involves heating it to hundreds of degrees centigrade for 24-48 hours, which is very easy to do in a lab and probably easy to do at industrial scale. Scientists don't understand the material very well yet, but if these discoveries are validated (as appears to be happening right now), then refining the manufacturing process is going to happen quite quickly because the payoffs and economic demand will be enormous. People are comparing this to the invention of the transistor; I think a better comparison is the electrical lightbulb. It's going to change things massively, because any country will be able to manufacture this. You could manufacture this stuff at home, the equipment you need fits on a desk and costs only a few thousand $.
- digbybk 3y ago
  > The raw materials are fairly cheap, and the production involves heating it to hundreds of degrees centigrade for 24-48 hours Can you also ELI5 why this seemed like such a hard problem to solve up until now? Was it something hiding in plain site?
sojuz151 3y ago
You could run a cable from sahara to the America to send solar power in the night

trolan 3y ago

No resistance in wires means limitless power lines, phone lines, batteries charge instantly..

tartrate 3y ago
Now how about some practical implications rather than theoretical?
- moolcool 3y ago
  MRI machines will get much better/cheaper. They use superconductors already, but are very hard and expensive to keep at their super-cold operating temperature.
- shivekkhurana 3y ago
  Hoverboards.
  - vasili111 3y ago
    Is this a joke or are you serious?
    - sonusario 3y ago
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KtzyZKSuls https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KtzyZKSuls
moolcool 3y ago
> batteries charge instantly Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't there still be a bottleneck on the battery chemistry itself?
- luguenth 3y ago
  The Superconductor would also store the Energy. It could instantly release and take in energy. So this would also be the battery
  - vasili111 3y ago
    > It could instantly release and take in energy. In that case, can it be used to create new type of explosives?

Tade0 3y ago

Everything that involves powerful magnets and benefits from making things float - like bearings. Robots and exoskeletons come to mind. One of the more bonkers applications would be to wrap Mars around the equator with it, creating an artificial magnetosphere. Temperatures on Mars are pretty low, but during the Martian summer they get to a nice 20°C there, so currently available superconductors are not up to the task.

stuckinhell 3y ago
Whoa, where can I read more about something like that ?!

anigbrowl 3y ago

Conventional conductors have resistance, so when you run electrical current through them they heat up; this is why laptops and desktops have fans to cool the chips, why phones get hot and so on. Superconductors transmit energy without resistance, so the heating problem goes away and the energy costs of running the device go way, way down. Basically you can pump more through smaller wires without worrying about them melting. This means that just about any electronic/electrical device could be run more cheaply, safely, and at a smaller scale. Advanced tech like MRI machines, maglev trains, and quantum computers all use superconductivity now, but are enormously bulky and expensive because they require extreme cooling using liquid helium (which is in short supply). Room temperature super conductors can dispense with all that, so instead of a quantum computer being the size and power draw of a refrigerator (because it is in fact mostly refrigerator) it could go in your wristwatch. Superconductors also expel magnetic fields, which in practical terms means they repel magnets. And they only repel, without being attracted to magnets at all, like iron or the poles of other magnets. So you can use them for levitation. And because superconductors have zero resistance, if you put energy into a superconducting coil it stays there forever, just circling round and round the coil. This LK-99 material people are talking about is an alloy of lead and copper, and it's not that difficult or expensive to make. The raw materials are fairly cheap, and the production involves heating it to hundreds of degrees centigrade for 24-48 hours, which is very easy to do in a lab and probably easy to do at industrial scale. Scientists don't understand the material very well yet, but if these discoveries are validated (as appears to be happening right now), then refining the manufacturing process is going to happen quite quickly because the payoffs and economic demand will be enormous. People are comparing this to the invention of the transistor; I think a better comparison is the electrical lightbulb. It's going to change things massively, because any country will be able to manufacture this. You could manufacture this stuff at home, the equipment you need fits on a desk and costs only a few thousand $.

digbybk 3y ago
> The raw materials are fairly cheap, and the production involves heating it to hundreds of degrees centigrade for 24-48 hours Can you also ELI5 why this seemed like such a hard problem to solve up until now? Was it something hiding in plain site?

sojuz151 3y ago

You could run a cable from sahara to the America to send solar power in the night