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Europium's Superconductivity Demonstrated

Posted by samzenpus on from the great-new-taste dept.

gabrlknght writes "An old element just learned a new trick under pressure. When cooled and squeezed very hard, the soft metallic element europium turns into a superconductor, allowing electrons to flow unfettered by resistance, a study appearing May 13 in Physical Review Letters shows. The results make europium the 53rd of the 92 naturally occurring elements to possess superconductivity, which, if harnessed, could make for more efficient energy transfer."

7 of 103 comments (clear)

  1. Gee... by Anachragnome · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Gee...I got all excited there for a moment. Until I read:

      "The results make europium the 53rd of the 92 naturally occurring elements to possess superconductivity"

    If the gnomes haven't figured out how to "harness" the magic contained in the OTHER 92 elements that super-conduct, why would this one be any different?

  2. Rare Earth Metals by lobiusmoop · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I was quite surprised to read in Wikipedia that the rare earth metals are neither rare nor 'earths' in reality.

    --
    "I bless every day that I continue to live, for every day is pure profit."
  3. Re:First post by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Interesting

    What I don't understand is how does any new discovery almost ALWAYS turn out better than anything that is currently known or in use? Its uncanny.

  4. Re:Cool. Where's my Europium mine? by stei7766 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    No numbers, but heres a picture:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:CERN-cables-p1030764.jpg

  5. Re:I always knew it by myrrdyn · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Take that, Americium!

    Governor Schwartz, when asked for comment said "Youu continant sizzed eloments think you're all thaat? Califooornia is just one state and we haf an eloment named after ous"

    You should have tried someone from Copenhagen.... they have Hafnium, and they are just a city. Don't know any toughies from there, though ;)

    Think of Ytterby, Sweden. A village with 3 (three!!!) elements named from it: terbium, erbium and ytterbium ( see here )

    --
    Elen sìla lùmenn' omentielvo
  6. Think of Ytterby by myrrdyn · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Think of Ytterby, Sweden. A village with 3 (three!!!) elements named from it: terbium, erbium and ytterbium ( see here )

    Ops, I forgot some more... It seems that Ytterby originated 4-8 names...

    --
    Elen sìla lùmenn' omentielvo
  7. General Application Not Practical... by wisenboi · · Score: 2, Interesting

    From the article: "The researchers then cooled europium down to about 1.8 kelvins (â"271.35Â Celsius), a frigid temperature near absolute zero. At pressures around 80 gigapascals, or about 800,000 times the pressure exerted by the atmosphere at sea level, europium lost its magnetism. Electrons could flow freely through the metal without resistance." The closest thing the average person could conceive (or at least myself) in a) Pressure and b) freeze capability / something involving lasers? would be compactors and liquid nitrogen. I'm still having problems seeing this be generally applied for use. This isn't the first time yet another rare earth element/metal has had to be cooled down (and/or pressurized) to unnatural levels to unlock superconductivity. I thought the goals of such experiments was to figure out how to conventionally utilize superconductivity on a mass scale without the need for highly specific environmental conditions. Since this article also mentions most rare earth metals share this superconductive capability (at near-zero kelvin temperatures and/or massive unnatural Earth pressures), this isn't something new, still.

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