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We used to get "superconductors" then "room temperature superconductors", now this one is "room temperature and room pressure superconductor"
Next one will also include "unleaded" 😂
The steps actually mattered.
The first superconductors were weird, and required EXTREME conditions to function (generally liquid helium). These allowed for the first MRI machines, and some other tech.
"Type 2" superconductors changed the game. They function at far higher temperatures. This means that liquid nitrogen is enough to keep them functional. These allowed for the large scale roll out of smaller, cheaper MRI machines. You no longer needed a small factory to keep them from self destructing.
The holy grail was room temperature superconductors. These wouldn't need special conditions to function. Unfortunately, they didn't account for pressure. It turns out that superconductors can be made roon temperature, if the pressure is EXTREME. While this is very interesting from a science perspective, it's completely useless to technology improvement.
Hense the newer category, room temperature and pressure. It's what the holy grail should have been, but no one accounted for the pedants.
If this material performs as claimed, it's a big deal. A lot of sci-fi like tech suddenly becomes viable. Much of it centered around power generation, storage, and distribution.
Yeah, it's a really big breakthrough! I noticed while reading the abstract that it uses lead in its molecular (cristaline?) structure. It's a big thing in electronics to avoid lead because when soldering it releases harmful gas, I was just making a joke about this... Yet I hope to someday be able to purchase superconducting wire spools and simply substitute copper in our procedures!
Poor reading on my part. Apologies on that. 😁
As for unleaded, it will likely be take what we can get. I still find it insane that we've pulled a quantum level effect all the way up into the realm of liquid water! If lead is what's needed, we just need to make sure it's processed properly.
I personally suspect that wire spools won't be a thing. The internal structure of a high temperature superconductor is critical. That's not something conducive to hyper flexible wire. Flexible, maybe, but not to that extent. Also, quenching events will still be a risk. Not quite as explosive as a liquid-He quench, but it would be quite spectacular, nevertheless.
I'd still love to be proven wrong however!
One place it will be a big deal is computing. Superconducting chips and memory will be a big deal. A lot of our limitations are resistive in origin. No resistance means FAR less heat, and so faster chips. They are also already mostly equipped for the sort of production processes required.
Hahah, 2077:"no gluten"