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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."
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.
Not everyone lives in a "-ium" country. And IUAPC swings both ways. Get used to it.
If you prefer the slang version it's "GODDAMMIT" or "GODDAMNIT", there's no entry for your "GODDAMIT" in urban dictionary. Or if you wish to be proper, there's always "God damn it". Get used to it :).
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.
Haven't you heard? Global warming means that the north pole is already booked for rainforest plantation next year. Though superconducting maglev rides do sound fun..
which is totally what she said
That is the number range for exact ?
Max.
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.
Why the hell did they publish before peer review? That ain't how science is supposed to work.
It is common practice in many scientific disciplines to publish a preprint of work before it is submitted for publication. This has the advantage of rapidly disseminating advances to the scientific community and to the world at large, since it's a public server. In the case of work in competitive fields, posting a preprint helps establish priority in who did what first.
Because it's not peer reviewed and the preprint server is open to all, preprints must be taken with a grain of salt. Their value depends largely on the author's reputation within the scientific community. If the person who published this work is known to have produced good work in the past and/or works with those who have produced reliable work, the report within the preprint is generally taken at face value.
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.
You know, if it weren't for us and our aluminum, you'd be talking about "das aluminium" right now.