It’s been a few weeks of craziness for physicists and chemists scrambling to make sense of a grandiose claim that popped up in late July: the purported discovery by a team in South Korea of a material that conducts electricity at normal room temperature and air pressure — without losing any energy. The possibility of this long-sought material, called a room-temperature superconductor, quickly went viral, fueled by a video showing a lump of the stuff partially levitating as evidence of its extraordinary properties.
Now the claim is rapidly deflating under scientific study. Over the last few days, papers from academic labs scattered across the globe have built up evidence that the material, dubbed LK-99, is not a superconductor and is more likely a type of magnet. (Hyun-Tak Kim, a co-author of one of the discovery papers and a physicist at William & Mary, countered in an email that other research groups’ failure to replicate their results are probably because they lack “know how” in developing the sample the same way.)
The episode has provided the public with an unusual front-row glimpse at a fundamental part of how science works.
Almost as soon as the initial paper appeared online, enthusiasts amplified the excitement among nonexperts, explaining the profound implications if LK-99 is the real deal: a revolution for the power grid, more powerful medical imaging technologies, magnetically levitating trains — nothing short of a new era for humanity, and a slam dunk Nobel Prize to boot.
Suddenly, people who had never before heard of a superconductor considered the potential ripple effects of the technology. Careful experiments and abstruse calculations in academic labs were catapulted into mainstream interest; Whitelock says high school friends got in touch with her to ask what she thought. Other groups live-streamed their DIY attempts to re-create the material. Some onlookers put money on it, predicting whether it would pan out in volatile online betting markets.
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I'm sure it works. It's just that Big Oil, Big EV, Big Copper, and of course the gol-dang gummint are keeping it from us honest, hard-workin', Gawd-fearin' folk.
Just like they did with Jim Bede's IC engine that ran on water and got 80 miles (128 km) per gallon (3.8 litres).
Now the claim is rapidly deflating under scientific study. Over the last few days, papers from academic labs scattered across the globe have built up evidence that the material, dubbed LK-99, is not a superconductor and is more likely a type of magnet. (Hyun-Tak Kim, a co-author of one of the discovery papers and a physicist at William & Mary, countered in an email that other research groups’ failure to replicate their results are probably because they lack “know how” in developing the sample the same way.)
The episode has provided the public with an unusual front-row glimpse at a fundamental part of how science works.
Almost as soon as the initial paper appeared online, enthusiasts amplified the excitement among nonexperts, explaining the profound implications if LK-99 is the real deal: a revolution for the power grid, more powerful medical imaging technologies, magnetically levitating trains — nothing short of a new era for humanity, and a slam dunk Nobel Prize to boot.
Suddenly, people who had never before heard of a superconductor considered the potential ripple effects of the technology. Careful experiments and abstruse calculations in academic labs were catapulted into mainstream interest; Whitelock says high school friends got in touch with her to ask what she thought. Other groups live-streamed their DIY attempts to re-create the material. Some onlookers put money on it, predicting whether it would pan out in volatile online betting markets.
Article
I'm sure it works. It's just that Big Oil, Big EV, Big Copper, and of course the gol-dang gummint are keeping it from us honest, hard-workin', Gawd-fearin' folk.
Just like they did with Jim Bede's IC engine that ran on water and got 80 miles (128 km) per gallon (3.8 litres).
