touch foxglove NOW 
!codecels add anything that non-nerds would appreciate about LK-99 and superconductors.
OKAY CARP. You know how your phone gets hot sometimes, or if you feel the bottom of your computer (
) it can feel like it is on fire? That's because electricity makes things hot as it runs through them. This isn't good, and it's why your computer has a fan in it that buzzes all the time! It's also wasteful, because that heat is actual energy that could be powering things, so it's costing YOU money! 
(That's also how electric blankets work BTW 
)
What if there was something that didn't get hot when you ran power through it? 
That would be pretty cool, literally. 
Since your computer wouldn't get so hot, you could actually run it faster (if you run it too fast right now, it would melt 
). It could also reduce your electric bill, since you wouldn't have to worry about waste heat! That's what a superconductor is - it's a conductor, just super powered.
There's also some other really cool things about superconductors that you should know as well. Superconductors can make things levitate really well. 
Watch this:
C'mon, you've got to admit this is cool!
Some people made it into a train track. I've cut to the cool part. Watch it zip around!
At the very least you have to admit that would be fun to play with 
Right now the biggest problem with superconductors is you have to keep them super cold 
or under tons of pressure 
. Which sucks because earth doesn't get that cold or that highly pressurized, or you'd die instantly 
. The Koreans claimed to have made a superconductor that you can play with in your normal day-to-day life - it can be at normal temperatures. 
They call it LK99 (idk why). We are all watching and hoping it's the real deal because that would be SWEET.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
The actual concept is pretty simple -- copper is a pretty good conductor. Better than aluminum at least. Ceramic is a shitty conductor, which is why we use it as an insulator. Poor conductors, if they conduct at all, have a lot of resistance which means you lose energy to heat.
Superconductors are really dang good at the heckin' conductorino, with almost no resistance, but they're also hard to make and maintain.
Supposedly this breakthrough was a way to make a superconductor without a truckload of heat and magnets and shit?
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
yep, seems like it. of course I am not sure if Carp understands the word "conductor"
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
More options
Context
More options
Context