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"a metallic material called θ-phase tantalum nitride"
by smcin 6mo ago
"a metallic material called θ-phase tantalum nitride"
- nielsbot 6mo ago> In the form of tantalum nitride that Hu and his colleagues studied, the atomic structure of the crystal lattice lets phonons travel unusually long distances with minimal interference. Sort of like a thermal (phonon) superconductor.. Maybe there's a true thermal superconductor out there to be discovered...
- metalman 6mo ago"Maybe there's a true thermal superconductor out there to be discovered..." it's called a vacume, and honestly I believe that for heat, thats it, given it's role in physics....
- apothegm 6mo agoVacuum? It’s a terrible conductor. Closer to a perfect insulator.
- MisterTea 6mo agoIt's a perfect conductor of infrared radiation which is how we cool space stations without ambient air to remove the heat via convection.
- apothegm 6mo agoIndeed. But radiative cooling in vacuum is much slower than conductive cooling per unit surface area (even just in air at sea level on earth, air being a fairly poor conductor) unless you manage to concentrate the heat in your radiator at a massive temperature that most materials can’t withstand. And conductive heat transfer is what’s being measured in the context of this article.