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Nanoclusters Break Superconductivity Record
KentuckyFC writes "A couple of years ago, two Russian physicists predicted that metal nanoclusters with exactly the right number of delocalized electrons (a few hundred or so) could become strong superconductors. Now an American group has found the first evidence that this prediction is correct in individual aluminium nanoclusters containing 45 or 47 atoms. And they found it at 200 K (abstract). That's a huge jump over the previous record of 138K for a high-temperature superconductor. There are a few caveats, however. The result is only partial evidence of superconductivity and the work has yet to be peer-reviewed. But its mere publication will set scientists scrambling to confirm. And 200K! That's practically room temperature in the Siberian winter."
It's "aluminium". Get used to it.
No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
Maybe not room temperature, even in Siberia: by my advanced calculations, 200 K = minus 100 F (or -73 C).
But still very exciting.
Never attribute to malice that which can be explained by mere idiocy.
with my desktop cold fusion apparatus, and i can power los angeles from my basement!
seriously, i hope this pans out. this is earthshattering. if they can successfully scale the production process, combined with its functionality with cheap and nontoxic aluminum, then cheap room temperature superconduction in the general public will occur in our lifetimes, with all of the neergy saving and future device classes that this breakthrough implies
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Great! lets start an attraction park in north pole and build superconductor based rides!
i'M serious btw
put up no resistance...
oh never mind. the idea was Russian but the result was in the US
SLASHDOT: news for people who can't concentrate on work or have no life at all and got tired of yelling back at the TV.
Carbon dioxide ( or dry-ice ) is bellow 195K at standard pressure, so this material wouldn't even need liquid nitrogen for cooling. If this can be made to scale it would without doubt give countless of applications.
Isn't that like a "strong" Superman?
What would that make a "weak" superconductor? A conductor?
Yours sincerely,
- Puzzled, Intartubes.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
It looks like the size of this is pretty darn small (Figure 1 shows plots of heat capacities determined for aluminum cluster anions with 43-48 atoms for temperatures below room temperature. At that size, it's not particularly useful except when creating tiny electronics. I'm not sure you can string together these tiny atom clusters and get the same effect. Sadly that means we can't send power across the country without significant energy loss.
...everyone knows the right number of nanoclusters is 42!
In sovt. russia, metal nonoclusters conduct you !
That's -73.15 celcius, or -99.67 Fahrenheit. 294.3 Kelvin would be a very comfortable temperature for superconductivity, I wonder if I'll see it in my lifetime?
Coldest Temperature (North America): -81.4 oF/-63 oC, Snag, Yukon, Canada, February 3, 1947
mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
That is the number range for exact ?
>>There are a few caveats, however. The result is only partial evidence of superconductivity and the work has yet to be peer-reviewed. But its mere publication will set >>scientists scrambling to confirm If slashdot has taught me anything lately, it's that "partial evidence" and "yet to be peer-reviewed" = bullshit. Without getting overly trollish about it, the coolest news of the moment that isn't true and isn't news....isn't all that cool...? There's still some great content, and I'll keep coming back as long as the +5 comments keep cracking me up...but the vapor seems a little thick these days.
[Sir Garlon] is the marvellest knight that is now living, for he destroyeth many good knights, for he goeth invisible.
The original calculation of 0C=273K was determined in 1848.
The more precise value of 273.15K was measured and adopted in 1954.
Given the equipment and knowledge available in 1848, I'm quite impressed with the accuracy of the original calculation ( 0.1%).
For instance, a usable superconductor has to be able to tolerate a strong magnetic field, i.e. substantial current. Plenty of alloys are superconducting but cannot carry much current.
And very basic: temperature is a very hazy concept when applied to a small cluster of atoms. What's the acceptable range of energies? Very significant.
However, it's really unclear if it's possible to make a BULK superconductor out of this. The effect depends on a nanocluster having the correct number of atoms. Once you put two together you have - a nanocluster with the wrong number of atoms. Which is to say, a little piece of aluminum. Perhaps you could have a bunch of cluster that were separated enough to be weakly coupled so you could maintain the superconducting state, but allow current flow. But there's a whole lot of "ifs" between here and there.
What I find exciting about this is the ability to theoretically predict the properties of nanoclusters (to say nothing of fabricating and measuring them.) Understanding nanoclusters is a step in the direction of engineering bulk materials from first principles with the characteristics you need. You know how much time and effort went into discovering Halfnium as a component for a dielectric in transistor fabrication? Imagine if that could have been discovered by running a supercomputer for a while until it found the compound with the desired properties. THAT is where this will ultimately go.
It's not wasting time, I'm educating myself.
on Mars!
.."is" 200k in Soviet Russia... in the summertime! aaa ha ha ha!
(note: this is the variant of the ISR joke where you insert something and then "is this something in soviet russia... in the summertime! AAA HA HA HA)
stuff |
mod parent up
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
I'm sorry, but I have a speech defect which prohibts me from intong the second "i" in any one word.
I choose to remain celibate, like my father and his father before him.
when do we have a working stargate
nature.
Boiling has to do w/ molecular excitement due to pressure gradients. If you take that water, and boil it in denver, You'll find no amount of exact measuring will come up w/ 373.1339 K
Please, remeber that sea level is a relative thing only to earth.
How much is your data worth? Back it up now.
...that room temp was defined by the temperature people prefer indoors.
Imagine a beowulf cluster of these clusters...maybe that's a strong superconductor?
www.purevolume.com/martyd
Surely, a composite made from superconducting nanoparticles would not be superconducting (though it may be a good conductor). So what use is a superconductor if it has to be so small?
Also, they measured a dramatic change in heat capacity @ 200K, which may be an indication of a superconducting phase transition. It also may be some other phase transition. They're still looking for direct evidence it's a superconducter.
"Now an American group has found the first evidence that this prediction is correct in individual aluminum nanoclusters containing 45 or 47 atoms."
They're wrong. The right number is 42. It's obvious.
Am I the only one misinterpreting this as 200 kilo (degrees - either Celcius or Kelvin, there's practically no difference)?
As electric and cooling costs continue to rise, I wonder whether there will be good economic case for locating superconducting datacenters towards the poles (or atop mountains) because it takes so much less power to keep them running so fast. With ever more automated datacenter ops, they might be airdroppable into really remote locations, with fiber bundles or redundant satellite radios linking them to the Net, without needing human operations staff (and the power they consume for their 100F bodies).
--
make install -not war
According to this page http://superconductors.org/185k_pat.htm the previous record was actually 185K and it points out the the coldest recorded temperature on the planet is 183.95K. What is actually more exciting (to me at least) is the new non-cuprate superconductors. They are fluorine doped RFeOAs (R = rare earth) with Tc ~ 40-50K. This will hopefully give insight into the mechanisms of non-BCS superconductivity.
Not that any mods are paying attention to this thread any more, but this "Score:5, Insightful" post is based on a faulty premise. Bulk material of these clusters would conduct thanks to the Josephson effect.
But this Rottweiler not only is snarling and frothing at the mouth; it also went to Harvard.
And modding is imperfect at sorting out truth from falsehood. Don't sweat it so much. The discussion's the thing.
It's not wasting time, I'm educating myself.