Quantum Wires

Silverlancer writes "Room temperature superconductors have often been a hallmark of far-future science fiction. But fortunately for us, they're here today, according to MIT's Technology Review. Richard Smalley, winner of the 1996 Nobel Prize for the discovery of the buckyball, is currently heading a project to produce a prototype carbon nanotube superconductor. They've already produced some wires up to 100 meters long--the only thing left to do is figure out how to produce only a certain type of nanotube, the "5,5 armchair nanotube," that conducts so well that it can be considered a superconductor."

Comments

really a superconductor?

[Al Clocker]

The article says that there is "almost no loss of energy." But real superconductors truly have zero resistance. Once you start a current in a superconducting loop it runs for years without decreasing. AFAIK a decrease has never been observed. The article is unclear about whether this actually is a super-conductor or not. Does anyone know for a fact?

LEDs

[Interrupt18]

There was a discussion yesterday about using LEDs to replace incandescent lights. One thing that came up was the power losses associated with stepping down the mains voltage to voltages required by LEDs.

Even if the carbon nanotubes are not technically superconductors, if their resistance is much lower than copper they might be ideal for low voltage home wiring. You could step the mains down to 5 or 12 volts in a central location in your house, and power the all your low voltage electronics without having to worry about I^2R losses.