Superconductor craze continues as scientists demand proof
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??You're reading The Vital Component, a breakdown of the week's engineering news delivered to your inbox. I’m Tim, an editor at IE. Let's dive in.
This week, we hacked a path through the hype to get to the heart of the superconductor story, where some scientists rush to report results through irregular channels, while?others demand more proof?before declaring a revolution has occurred.
We also have a report on an?ambitious new space launch concept?that draws on Nazi technology, plus we explain how an eerie blue glow?was a sign of success in a fusion lab.
?? Also this weekend, Python is famous for being an easy programming language to learn, however, that doesn’t mean its commands, syntax, and operators are easy to remember.?
For mastering the less-than-intuitive facets of Python, here’s the?ITPro Today Python Commands Cheat Sheet?that focuses on the fastest and easiest ways to achieve some tasks.
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MUST KNOW
Hype surrounding the?alleged superconductor LK-99?has spilled over from the internet into stock markets in China and South Korea. Prices of certain stocks have spiked even as the?scientific community remains skeptical?and have demanded more proof from their peers before accepting claims.
The new material has remained a trending topic on X, formerly known as Twitter, and it has also occupied two spots in the top 10 items on Hacker News, a site dedicated to news about computer science and entrepreneurship. Researchers have abandoned the slow grind of publication and?taken to social media instead?to share new findings or replications.
A company called Longshot is building a giant cannon that will fire payload into space from a 6-mile-long barrel at a fraction of the cost of a rocket. If successful, this launch system could dramatically slash the cost per pound/kilogram to deliver a payload to space. Other companies are working on a similar concept, but Longshot’s approach is truly awe-inspiring.
Cherenkov radiation?is observed when particles move faster than the speed of light in a specific medium like water. In the case of nuclear fusion, the glow is created after a hydrogen atom absorbs a neutron and emits a high-energy gamma ray, which then strikes an electron and accelerates it nearly to the speed of light. This is how nuclear fusion company SHINE Technologies has obtained visible proof of its reaction at work.
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“Fusion has long captured the imagination of scientists and the public. To be able to create visual evidence of fusion is just really cool.â€
Greg Piefer, founder and CEO of SHINE
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PhenonmenLOLogist NOT an expert. Try to be funny but know I can't know if am. Don't fear attenuated negative feedback.
1 年There were big advances in superconducting during the 80s-90s, materials that worked at liquid nitrogen temperatures rather than requiring liquid helium. AFAIK these claims were real, however what was often not mentioned was that the uses were limited because they could only superconduct a tiny current. I guess you could superconduct enough current if you had enough material, possibly coating a big pipe. Correctly misaligned sheets of Graphene or more often Graphene Oxide are also speculated to superconduct, but probably not at room temperature. A blue glow in water can also be caused by sonoluminescence. Single-bubble sonoluminescence is a possible way to concentrate enough energy to achieve fusion. (So far not close to enough energy, but other methods were in that place too.) If that's the method Shine Fusion is using, the blue glow might be misleading. Their website refers to currently using “beam target fusion", which to me suggests LASER triggering, but the term “beam†*might* encompass some type of acoustic beaming. The four phase approach sounds financially preferable to me, compared to other fusion companies that will only payoff if they achieve nett energy gain. I wouldn't invest anywhere without much more checking
Full-Stack Software Engineer | Data Analyst | RPA Developer | Passionate About Automating Processes & Scalable Solutions
1 å¹´Moloti Tebogo Nakampe
Dr. at Netherlands Standardisation Institute
1 å¹´I suggest to ignore this superconductor hype, but if you still insist, I have the proof here: https://www.reddit.com/r/ImmaterialScience/comments/15g65rj/we_report_the_first_synthesis_of_a/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
Large and Complex Property Claims Specialist including Engineering, Contract Works and Business Interruption- semi retired
1 å¹´Great reading, thanks