Why Experts Are Skeptical About That Supposed Superconductor Breakthrough

On Saturday July 22, researchers in South Korea published a paper announcing the synthesis of what could be the world’s first ambient-temperature superconductor. If their findings are genuine, then the implications are huge. But most experts are skeptical. Researchers around the world are trying to replicate and verify the Korean researchers’ findings. The most credible attempts have found that LK-99—the name the Korean researchers gave the material—is not actually superconductive at room temperatures.  [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] For now, the reliability of the findings remains unclear. Researchers stress that we should know soon whether the researchers truly made a breakthrough. More From TIME [video id=2GTf1S21 autostart="viewable"] What are superconductors? A superconductor is a material that can levitate in a magnetic field and conduct electricity without resistance—when cables get hot, that’s because of resistance. There are a number of materials that exhibit superconductivity at temperatures ranging from 4 Kelvin, -452.5°F, for mercury to 250 Kelvin, -9.7°F, for lanthanum hydride under high pressures. The large magnetic fields required for MRI scanners, for example, are generated by passing a large current through a superconductor (typically MRI machines use niobium titanium superconductors cooled to below 9.3 Kelvin, -442.9°F, using liquid helium). But the low temperatures requ...
Source: TIME: Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Uncategorized healthscienceclimate Source Type: news