4 ms·

Because a room-temp, amb-press superconductor, that can be made from readly available cheap materials, would be almost on par with the discovery of fire in term

Because a room-temp, amb-press superconductor, that can be made from readly available cheap materials, would be almost on par with the discovery of fire in terms of importance for our species technological capabilities. Even the simplest example of what that would mean is already amazing to our society: Imagine a power-grid that no longer loses power to electrical resistence in the wires.

Dylan16807 3y ago
Cheap doesn't mean free. We can already reduce resistance by piling in more cheap metal, but it becomes more effort than it's worth. And superconductors have limits on how much power they can carry. But most importantly, the power grid doesn't lose all that much to resistance. And you'd still lose power to transmission line capacitance against the ground.
- usrbinbash 3y ago
  > Cheap doesn't mean free Means cheap enough to be mass produced, and available. > But most importantly, the power grid doesn't lose all that much to resistance Laws of scaling, even a small percentage of power lost to resistence is a hige overall loss, the avoidance of which is desirable. And as I said, this is only the simplest example.
  - Dylan16807 3y ago
    > Means cheap enough to be mass produced, and available. But so are all our existing cables. > Laws of scaling, even a small percentage of power lost to resistence is a hige overall loss, the avoidance of which is desirable. We could cut those losses right now by making the existing cables thicker. But we don't. Even a cheap superconductor might not be used at all in electrical grids, because the benefit isn't worth the cost. > And as I said, this is only the simplest example. What are the better examples?
    - usrbinbash 3y ago
      >We could cut those losses right now by making the existing cables thicker. But we don't. If we could make cables superconducting simply by making them thicker, we wouldn't need superconductors. > What are the better examples? Microelectronics for a start. Resistence bleeds heat, heat buildup limits designs. A novel superconducting materials would allow us to make more efficient chips. As for further examples: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_applications_of_superconductivity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_applications_of_...
breuleux 3y ago
> Imagine a power-grid that no longer loses power to electrical resistence in the wires. From what I can see the power loss is in the 8-15% range. It'd be awesome to save that, but it's not game changing, and you have to take into account the cost of replacing the wires.
- BirAdam 3y ago
  Well, that's true, but there are also more important applications: reducing heat and power loss in chips, increasing the efficiency of electric motors, increasing the efficiency of electromagnets, decreasing charge times for batteries, and so on. I may not say as important as fire, but it would certainly be in the same league as the integrated circuit.
  - Dylan16807 3y ago
    The electromagnets are losing a notable amount to resistance in a way that superconducting could help. The chips and batteries are not. I don't know why people even bring up batteries. They're not going to make any difference to batteries that I'm aware of. In theory you could use superconducting coils as storage, but that's on the level of bulk capacitors, not batteries.
- usrbinbash 3y ago
  > It'd be awesome to save that, but it's not game changing An 8-15% increase in available electricity without any new power plants built isn't game changing? The ability to transport power over longer distances, making eg. solar farms in remote locations suddenly feasible projects isn't game changing? > and you have to take into account the cost of replacing the wires No I really don't have to, as we, as a species, seem to have money in abundance. What we do not have in abundance, is biospheres. We have exactly one of those, and if it's ruined, all the money won't help. The ability to suddenly boost the efficiency of our electrical grids by 8-15% would not solely solve the problems our species currently causes for itself, but it would help a ton.
  - Dylan16807 3y ago

Dylan16807 3y ago

Cheap doesn't mean free. We can already reduce resistance by piling in more cheap metal, but it becomes more effort than it's worth. And superconductors have limits on how much power they can carry. But most importantly, the power grid doesn't lose all that much to resistance. And you'd still lose power to transmission line capacitance against the ground.

usrbinbash 3y ago
> Cheap doesn't mean free Means cheap enough to be mass produced, and available. > But most importantly, the power grid doesn't lose all that much to resistance Laws of scaling, even a small percentage of power lost to resistence is a hige overall loss, the avoidance of which is desirable. And as I said, this is only the simplest example.
- Dylan16807 3y ago
  > Means cheap enough to be mass produced, and available. But so are all our existing cables. > Laws of scaling, even a small percentage of power lost to resistence is a hige overall loss, the avoidance of which is desirable. We could cut those losses right now by making the existing cables thicker. But we don't. Even a cheap superconductor might not be used at all in electrical grids, because the benefit isn't worth the cost. > And as I said, this is only the simplest example. What are the better examples?
  - usrbinbash 3y ago
    >We could cut those losses right now by making the existing cables thicker. But we don't. If we could make cables superconducting simply by making them thicker, we wouldn't need superconductors. > What are the better examples? Microelectronics for a start. Resistence bleeds heat, heat buildup limits designs. A novel superconducting materials would allow us to make more efficient chips. As for further examples: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_applications_of_superconductivity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_applications_of_...

breuleux 3y ago

> Imagine a power-grid that no longer loses power to electrical resistence in the wires. From what I can see the power loss is in the 8-15% range. It'd be awesome to save that, but it's not game changing, and you have to take into account the cost of replacing the wires.

BirAdam 3y ago
Well, that's true, but there are also more important applications: reducing heat and power loss in chips, increasing the efficiency of electric motors, increasing the efficiency of electromagnets, decreasing charge times for batteries, and so on. I may not say as important as fire, but it would certainly be in the same league as the integrated circuit.
- Dylan16807 3y ago
  The electromagnets are losing a notable amount to resistance in a way that superconducting could help. The chips and batteries are not. I don't know why people even bring up batteries. They're not going to make any difference to batteries that I'm aware of. In theory you could use superconducting coils as storage, but that's on the level of bulk capacitors, not batteries.
usrbinbash 3y ago
> It'd be awesome to save that, but it's not game changing An 8-15% increase in available electricity without any new power plants built isn't game changing? The ability to transport power over longer distances, making eg. solar farms in remote locations suddenly feasible projects isn't game changing? > and you have to take into account the cost of replacing the wires No I really don't have to, as we, as a species, seem to have money in abundance. What we do not have in abundance, is biospheres. We have exactly one of those, and if it's ruined, all the money won't help. The ability to suddenly boost the efficiency of our electrical grids by 8-15% would not solely solve the problems our species currently causes for itself, but it would help a ton.
- Dylan16807 3y ago