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Buckyballs Allow High-Temperature Superconduction
dr. loser writes: "Bell Labs researchers have announced the discovery of high temperature superconductivity in a crystal composed of C60 (buckyballs) and
other molecules (e.g. chloroform) used as spacers. These samples are field-effect transistor style devices. The superconducting transition is seen at 117 K. This is a big deal because this is the first non-copper-oxide compound to superconduct above 77 K, the boiling point of liquid nitrogen. This means there's probably more than one mechanism that can cause high temperature superconductivity, raising hopes for eventual room temperature superconductivity."
Seems they try everything with them. Low friction bearings? Buckyballs. Finding ancient gasses? look inside buckyballs.
Whats next? Fish n chips "Do you want bucky with them?"
When I were your age, all round here were fields...
First of all, the article made no mention of thermal conductivity. This is vital to superconductors in that high thermal conductivity allows it to be cooled easier (heat flows into and out of it at a faster rate).
Also, how easy are these to shape? It would seem to me that eventually they would be able to form this kind of thing into any shape mold that they wanted, being as the constituant parts are very very small, and pretty much independent until they are set as a crystal.
Also, how well made were these crystals? If they were better crystalized, might the transition temperature go up even more?
I know it's a lot to expect from Yahoo news, but I really want to know!
Can this be made into really long wires? So that we can transmit power/communications by this?
Just wondering...
Can't see anything in nature or the xxx.lanl.gov archives. Am I being dumb?
If you need chloroform and bromoform to make this work, the question here is how do you make the end products safe enough for people to use? If you search Google for "chloroform toxicity" you'll find (amongst other things), a fact sheet from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) detailing the effects of exposure to chloroform by humans and animals. Likewise, if you search for "bromoform toxicity", you'll find a paper from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) that explains the effects of exposure to bromoform.
If I was a regular person on the street, I would be seriously concerned that superconducting wires (for example) that were being used in my home contained chemicals that have proven to be carcinogenic to animals (chloroform has been classified by the EPA as Group B2, a probable human carcinogen of low carcinogenic hazard) and have nasty long-term effects such liver damage (both chloroform and bromoform are known to have such effects). I would be concerned for my safety and the safety of others who live in the house. What about leakage, or if the wires break? How do we dispose of these things in the future? It's not like we can just throw them away. Even if the solution were to be in crystalline form, it still doesn't answer questions about exposure to hazards like extreme temperatures, fire and explosions. The bottom line is that we seriously need to consider other options before even thinking about employing this solution.
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When the pin is pulled, Mr. Grenade is no longer our friend.
Most of the comments thus far seem to be concerned with the feasability of this becoming a deployable technology.
:)
Remember, as the original article submitter pointed out, the nifty thing is it shows there is another mechanism for finding higher temperature superconductors besides the copper-oxide ceramics previously discovered.
Of course, I've always valued myself more as theorist than producer.