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A New Law For Superconductors

TaleSlinger sends word of a newly-discovered "mathematical relationship — between material thickness, temperature, and electrical resistance — that appears to hold in all superconductors." The work (abstract), led by Yachin Irvy, comes out of MIT's Research Laboratory of Electronics. Researchers found that a particular superconductor (niobium nitride) didn't fit earlier models estimating the temperature at which it changes from normal conductivity to superconductivity. So the researchers conducted a series of experiments in which they held constant either thickness or “sheet resistance,” the material’s resistance per unit area, while varying the other parameter; they then measured the ensuing changes in critical temperature. A clear pattern emerged: Thickness times critical temperature equaled a constant — call it A — divided by sheet resistance raised to a particular power — call it B. ... The other niobium nitride papers Ivry consulted bore out his predictions, so he began to expand to other superconductors. Each new material he investigated required him to adjust the formula’s constants — A and B. But the general form of the equation held across results reported for roughly three dozen different superconductors.

53 comments

  1. Re:That's amazing by TWX · · Score: 2

    I like it when solutions are both simple and correct.

    After lengthy analysis of the work and further experimental confirmation we may have a Nobel winner on our hands.

    --
    Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
  2. Re:That's amazing by etinin · · Score: 1

    You're an idiot, read the damn abstract before speaking nonsense.

    --
    "I decided I could write something better than everything out there in two weeks. And I was right." - Linus Torvalds
  3. Re:Don't worry - Democrats will make this illegal! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Good thing too! If we allowed discrimination on how thick some one (or thing) was, we'd probably not allow our current batch of thick headed politicians run for office... or let people who are so thick they try to turn everything online into a political debate be able to connect to the internet!

  4. Division by Zero by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Per Wikipedia: "Superconductivity is a phenomenon of exactly zero electrical resistance and expulsion of magnetic fields occurring in certain materials when cooled below a characteristic critical temperature." According to the given formula: thickness x critical temperature = A / (sheet resistance) ^ B, that would give division by zero or am is something not clear?

    1. Re:Division by Zero by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 1

      At a complete guess, the sheet resistance is possibly as measured at above the superconducting temperature.

      --
      systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
  5. I've always known this! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I thought it was understood because it was so painfully obvious? If only I had known the world was so stupid I would have published the law myself decades ago...

    1. Re:I've always known this! by Paradise+Pete · · Score: 1

      I thought it was understood because it was so painfully obvious? If only I had known the world was so stupid I would have published the law myself decades ago...

      Good on you! But surely this can't be the only thing that is obvious to you but a marvel to the rest of us. So get cracking and start publishing. Don't miss another opportunity!

  6. Free shipping by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    On my order for one Coulomb rated supercapacitor?

    Am I missing something, isn't room temp supercapacitor == post-battery world?

    1. Re:Free shipping by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      On my order for one Coulomb rated supercapacitor?

      Am I missing something, isn't room temp supercapacitor == post-battery world?

      The bit that superconductor and supercapacitor only look alike as words.

    2. Re:Free shipping by Zeroko · · Score: 1

      A superconductor could be used as a superinductor, & some are—form it into a loop, put electricity in, & it keeps going around indefinitely (or as long as you maintain the superconducting state, anyway).

  7. That's amazing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    But a and b aren't simply real numbers. They are _variables_ that can adopt real numbers. So, a1 * C = b1, but a2 * C != b2 is of course valid. Except for the properties of superconducting materials in which case it appears to be that if a1 * C = b1 then a2 * C = b2.

  8. Re:Don't worry - Democrats will make this illegal! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Republicans will just shoot the minority superconductors.

  9. In Other News by NEDHead · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    A researcher has identified a new social law that describes exactly the probability of getting lucky, which only relies on 17 variables, each of which needs only be adjusted for each pairing of two individuals.

    1. Re:In Other News by Jane+Q.+Public · · Score: 1

      I think this deserves to be modded up. While it may be a bit sarcastic, there is an actual point here.

  10. Re:That's amazing by drdread66 · · Score: 5, Informative

    You should really read the "abstract," because the entire paper is available there at no cost. The discovered relationship is not a*C = b, but rather x = A y ** (-B), which is a much more complex relationship, and quite startling in this arena. Also be sure to look at all his graphs so you will understand what this guy did, what he discovered, and why this is a Big Deal (tm). Then maybe you won't be so quick to mock this discovery...

  11. Re:That's amazing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wait, where do you see any nonsense in my statement?

  12. Basic Research by SETY · · Score: 1

    And this folks is how you do basic research and why it pays to do it!

    1. Re:Basic Research by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      where's the "pays" part?

    2. Re:Basic Research by wiredlogic · · Score: 1

      where's the "pays" part?

      This is a Nobel level discovery which we now know is worth $4.75M for the medal alone.

      --
      I am becoming gerund, destroyer of verbs.
    3. Re: Basic Research by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Any contribution to discovering exactly how superconductors work is important as the potential payoff is enormous. Room temperature superconductors would change everything, but raising the critical temperature of existing superconductors makes them less expensive to use and opens up new applications.

    4. Re:Basic Research by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, but is the Nobel medal a superconducting metal, er, medal?

  13. Re:That's amazing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is very exciting. As high temp is what we are after. You can fiddle the formula and pick materials that fit the formula and hit the temp you need. This is a good clue as to what we are after. Now to find materials that hit the other parts of the formula. Or how to pick them apart to feed into this formula. Very exciting! It will be a long slog finding something that fits :)

  14. a sign of good science by fche · · Score: 1

    I don't know anything about the physics of this paper.

    But I love figure 3 (also highlighted at the aps.org URL),
    because it highlights outliers from the theory, and points
    to the supplementary information for theories about why
    those points didn't fit the otherwise nice curve.

    Bringing attention to errors as well as successes - that's
    good honest work.

    1. Re:a sign of good science by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

      Ladies and Gentlemen - fche doesnt know anything about the science, but he likes the pictures! Pretty Pictures!

    2. Re:a sign of good science by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      and i suppose you read the internet for the articles...

  15. Re:That's amazing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    All of it.

  16. Re: That's amazing by mSparks43 · · Score: 1

    do electrons travelling in super conductors travel faster than the speed of light?

  17. Better understanding of the physics? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    He found a neat empirical formula that matches nature.

    Does our model of how things work (QED?) fit this formula,
    or do we get an opportunity for a better model?

  18. Re:That's amazing by complete+loony · · Score: 1

    So trying to parse the formula from the English description; [thickness] * [critical temp] = A / ([sheet resistance] ^ B), where A = [crystalline structure] * B + C

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    09F91102 no, 455FE104 nope, F190A1E8 uh-uh, 7A5F8A09 that's not it, C87294CE no. Ah! 452F6E403CDF10714E41DFAA257D313F.
  19. Re: That's amazing by SQLGuru · · Score: 1

    My (limited understanding) is no.....but fewer of them "clog the pipe" and make it to the other end (lower resistance values).

  20. Re: That's amazing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    elctrons don't travel, they just pass the wave along, like waves on an ocean of water

  21. Yachin's Superconductive Generality by Khyber · · Score: 1

    Naming it now to save everyone else the trouble when the Nobel prize gets awarded to this person.

    --
    Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
  22. Re: That's amazing by geekoid · · Score: 1

    No, becasue nothing does.

    The wave moves cleaner. Remember, SoL is different in different mediums The constant we use ~300,000,000 meters per sec/sec is in vacuum, and close to the in superconductors.

    Interestingly, the electrons gain more mass in superconductors.

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  23. Law... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    When I read the headline, I was immediately thinking of some artifical law regulating the production, storage, and sale of super-conductors. Of course, also regulating the export to other countries.

    Sad, isn't it?

  24. Re: That's amazing by mSparks43 · · Score: 1

    that's what made me "think the question out loud".

    but you disagree with yourself.
    for example "light" can travel faster than light if they are travelling in different mediums.
    a vacuum has really high resistance and I seem to remember that electrons travel at different speeds depending on the resistance.

  25. New Law? by Ronin+Developer · · Score: 1

    WTF? Railroad Super Conductors get preferential treatment over less than stellar ones? What lobbying group managed to get Congress to pass this?

    Oh...wait...

    1. Re:New Law? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In this house we obey the laws of thermodynamics.

  26. Re: That's amazing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Nothing with mass moves faster than photons in a vacuum. Electrons have mass. There's an upper bound there.

  27. Re: That's amazing by drdread66 · · Score: 2

    You seem to have a really bad case of apples and oranges syndrome. I'm really not trying to get on your case -- rather, I want to help you understand the way things really work.

    1. "for example "light" can travel faster than light if they are travelling in different mediums."

    Whether you realize it or not, what you're saying here is that the speed of light depends on the medium. This is true. It seems like you are saying that this is some sort of contradiction, when in fact it isn't. Consider your own running speed: do you run faster in air or in a pool? Light faces a similar situation; in denser media it has a slower speed. Saying "light can travel faster than light" is just silly. Light always travels at the speed of light -- just not always at "speed of light in a vacuum."

    2. "a vacuum has really high resistance and I seem to remember that electrons travel at different speeds depending on the resistance."

    If you are talking about electron drift velocity in a conductor, then I recommend you start reading here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D.... If you are talking about the velocity of free electrons in a vacuum, that's a completely different story. A free electron in a vacuum has no single speed, no more than a free cue ball in a vacuum would have. Either object travels at a speed consistent with its momentum and energy. If you're talking about electrons shot out the back end of an accelerator, they're going close to c (the dreaded speed of light in a vacuum). If you're talking about electrons accelerated by some other mechanism, well, then the speed is going to depend on what energy the accelerator imparted to the electron.

  28. Re:Diversity = Natural Order by webmistressrachel · · Score: 1

    To really get the natural order you're suggesting, you'd have to nuke his mum in the past - requiring faster-than-light-travel - so your troll-biting comment isn't as off-topic as the resulting moderation would imply!

    --
    This tagline was transcoded to result in at least one smirk. If you experience failure to smirk, please consult your Gen
  29. Re: Don't worry - Democrats will make this illegal by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What Democrats will do is what they have done all along: Invent all the technology that matters.

  30. Re: That's amazing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Light always travels at the speed of light -- just not always at "speed of light in a vacuum."

    Quite true, and sometimes other things can move faster than the speed of light in a medium, but not faster than light travels in a vacuum. Cerenkov radiation, that blue glow seen in the cooling water of some reactors, is emitted by electrons travelling faster than the speed of light in water (but slower than C).

  31. Upper Limit by fsterman · · Score: 1

    So, does this suggest a reasonable upper temperature for superconductivity?

    --
    Is there anything better than clicking through Microsoft ads on Slashdot?
  32. Re:Don't worry - Democrats will make this illegal! by fyngyrz · · Score: 1

    Indiana will simply legislate that all superconductors are performance-invariant.

    Problem solved. See how easy that is?

    --
    I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
  33. Re:Don't worry - Democrats will make this illegal! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The Texas school board will simply say that there is no mention of superconductivity in the Bible, therefore it's just a theory that needs to at the least be taught alongside the 'fact' that really an invisible man in the heavens causes electrons to move freely through certain blessed objects. Of course, they'll ignore the fact that there's no mention of electrons or atoms in the book either...

  34. I shouldn't... I shouldn't... aw, futz. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    (Warming up to this) Muslims will declare that it's ok to beat conductors, set them on fire, and cut the connectors off them because they aren't superconductors. The conductor only has to be a few years old before you can plug into it. Islam will become the religion of conduction, and young men who wrap themselves with coils of wire that will annihilate them, exploding with great effect when power is applied with the assumption that said coil WAS a superconductor, will go to heaven and be greeted by 77 male virgins named Kelvin. Their first words upon this gruesome discovery will be "Gee had... I only known... Whoops..."

  35. Re: That's amazing by mSparks43 · · Score: 1

    quite. I know I'm being a little bit counter intuitive. but that is just to help me understand better.

    so. taking that drift velocity for example.
    that v ag = uE doesn't seem to depend on C. and u would appear to be a divide by zero in a superconductor.

  36. Re: That's amazing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The abbreviation for speed of light in a medium is not 'SoL', it's 'v sub g', otherwise known as the group velocity. I would also accept 'C' (capital c), 'c'' (c prime) or 'c sub medium'.

    Plausibly the speed of light in a vacuum is not constant, as it is derived from the equation: c**2 = 1/(epsilon sub 0 * mu sub 0), and is thus dependent on the vacuum permitivity and vacuum permeability, which we have little to no experimental evidence of their constancy outside of our local region of space. We also have no evidence that they are not constant, but any small enough gradient integrated over a small enough space is indistinguishable from a constant.

    What makes this somewhat less plausible is the extremely high precision with which we are able to measure vacuum permitivity and permeability.