Wow, hold onto your hats folks because we may have just stumbled upon a magical material that could change the world as we know it! According to an article in Nature (you know, that fancy-pants journal), there’s this superconductor thingy made of lutetium and hydrogen and nitrogen. And get this – it conducts electricity at room temperature!
Now I don’t want to be too skeptical here but some people are saying these results might not be legit. Apparently, other scientists who tried to replicate the experiment couldn’t find any signs of superconductivity.
But wait! There’s more! A group of researchers from the University of Illinois Chicago say they’ve verified a critical measurement: electrical resistance vanishing into thin air like magic. This doesn’t necessarily prove anything about being able to conduct electricity at room temp but hey, maybe someone else will take another look now.
The original researcher behind all this is Ranga P. Dias from Rochester Uni in New York (not exactly known for their cutting-edge science). He claims his material can become a superconductor when squeezed under 145k pounds per square inch pressure which is apparently ten times what you’d feel if you were hanging out with Spongebob Squarepants down on Bikini Bottom.
So yeah…it seems unlikely anyone would actually use something like this since no one wants their electronics crushed by deep-sea levels worths’of force BUT if true then perhaps someday soon we’ll see actual practical applications using similar materials?
Dr Hemley over at UIC led up those new measurements mentioned earlier so he must really believe Dr Dias has discovered something big here right? Welllll….he hasn’t commented yet because nothing’s been published anywhere official-like quite yet…
Some critics claim crucial details were left outta previous experiments conducted by Dr.Dias leading them towards suspicion regarding whether or not everything was fabricated entirely; even going so far as pointing fingers accusingly due to swathes of his doctoral thesis being copied word-for-word from other scientists’ work.
Dr. Dias has founded a company called Unearthly Materials and raised $16.5 million in financing so far, which is pretty impressive considering all the controversy surrounding him lately!
The material itself consists mainly of lutetium (a rare earth metal), hydrogen, and nitrogen – not exactly household names when it comes to superconductors but hey if this works then who cares right?
Some researchers have been looking into hydrides as potential candidates for room-temperature superconductivity since they’ve shown promise under crushing pressures; Dr.Dias says that’s what led him towards using these particular elements together instead though others disagree with how well-suited their electronic structure would be compared against conventional theories on high-temp conductivity…
So there you go folks! A magical substance made up mostly outta stuff we can’t even pronounce might just change everything about electricity forever…or maybe nothing at all? Who knows?!
