First room temperature superconductor...

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cmartinez

Joined Jan 17, 2007
8,218
"2.6 million times that of Earth’s atmosphere"

It's been suspected that Metallic Hydrogen was a superconductor at room temperature since the 60's so I suspect the other elements act to reduce the pressure needed to form Metallic Hydrogen from 4 million to 2.6 million.

https://cen.acs.org/physical-chemis...gen-simulations-reconcile-experimental/98/i35
Indeed, it's suspected by some that Jupiter's core is a superconductor. That would explain its intense magnetic field.
 

nsaspook

Joined Aug 27, 2009
13,079
Indeed, it's suspected by some that Jupiter's core is a superconductor. That would explain its intense magnetic field.
As usual we are using science to 'discover' what 'nature' is already doing in most cases, cool but not surprising. The real breakthrough would be a metastable Metallic Hydrogen compound that would remain in a superconduction state after the pressure is removed.
 

Wendy

Joined Mar 24, 2008
23,415
I remember reading about this several years ago. Another researcher thought he had Metallic hydrogen hydrogen for a while but it was such a small quantity trying to clean the sample the sample blew away. We will probably never know if he had metallic hydrogen or not, many people remain skeptical. Technically metallic hydrogen is a form of degenerate matter. NASA thinks it would make an exquisite rocket fuel. He used a diamond anvil to make the metallic hydrogen sample. I'm still trying to stay current on this type of research.
 
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ZCochran98

Joined Jul 24, 2018
303
It's fascinating stuff, that's for sure (and, indeed, metallic hydrogen or materials with hydrogen in them that undergo a similar phase change tend to be superconductive). My research is actually largely in the area of superconductors, but more of applications of Josephson junctions (I'm doing my thesis on them), so I'm looking forward to seeing if they can now do "room-pressure" superconduction....

I must say: I was initially concerned, before reading the actual post, that this was going to be about the since-discredited (for Bell-Labs-Schon-scandal-like issues) claim to room-temperature superconductivity in a gold-silver nanoparticle array (the authors have plots with identical noise characteristics, like what Schon had, and refuse to allow anyone to see their setup). It's been known for a very long time that good conductors make the worst superconductors.
 

nsaspook

Joined Aug 27, 2009
13,079
https://www.science.org/content/art...room-temperature-superconductivity-draws-fire
A result last year hailed as a breakthrough in physics also generated skepticism that has now escalated into angry recriminations. Researchers said they had made the first superconductor that works at room temperature, a long-sought goal. But Jorge Hirsch, a physicist at the University of California (UC), San Diego, attacked some of the evidence, particularly a set of magnetic measurements. He says his requests to see the underlying data have been rebuffed by the authors for nearly a year. And, last month in a peer-reviewed paper, he charged that the results are “probably fraudulent.”

Ranga Dias, an applied physicist at the University of Rochester, who with his colleagues made the room-temperature superconductivity claim, rejects Hirsch’s allegations. He asserts that Hirsch isn’t an expert in high-pressure physics and that he has a history of claiming that the Nobel Prize–winning “BCS theory” underlying superconductivity is incorrect. Dias says Hirsch relentlessly badgers superconductivity researchers. “Hirsch is a troll,” Dias says. “We are not going to feed this troll” by providing the data.
“We are not going to feed this troll” by providing the data

That sort of response don't help decide a scientific debate.
 

ZCochran98

Joined Jul 24, 2018
303
If they refuse to provide the data, past experience with claims of high-temperature superconductivity indicates they're highly suspect. And disagreeing with a commonly-used theory is not grounds to deny someone data - having accessible data is exactly how new theories are proposed, for crying out loud! And he doesn't need to be an expert in high-pressure physics to be able to determine if the claims of superconductivity (i.e.: the presence of the Meissner effect) in this material are correct or not.

This is all very suspicious to me. We'll see what happens. This wouldn't be the first room-temperature (or "room temperature") superconductor to be tossed out (see: the gold/silver nanoparticle superconductor hoax from a few years ago). No matter what, Dias, et al are NOT acting like the scientists they claim to be. Science is not about selectively providing data or selectively debating detractors to "not feed trolls" (whether they're legitimate trolls or, in the case of Hirsch, so-called "trolls") or to maintain supposed "consensus;" it's the investigation of the nature of the world. And transparency and accessible data are the only ways to make your case in a world where theories (and criticisms of them) are a dime a dozen. Debate, criticism, disagreement, different interpretations of the same data (or even just providing data...) - that's what drives the scientific method.
 
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