News Engineer Details Messy LK-99 Superconductor Fabrication Process

[Admin]

Andrew McCalip, an R&D engineer with California-based Varda Space Industries, has detailed several of the steps to create the LK-99 superconductor.

Engineer Details Messy LK-99 Superconductor Fabrication Process : Read more

 

[brandonjclark]

I feel like this is shaping up to be a major materials breakthrough.

 

[ingtar33]

nah, this is a type of ceramic, which means it's application as a real world superconductor is really limited, furthermore most of the physically observable effects can be the effect of dimagnitism not superconductivity.

 

[PlaneInTheSky]

No idea who this Andrew guy is, but it looks like he's just looking for attention on Twitter rather than producing anything useful.

Anyway, I think this story is dead now.

 

[InvalidError]

nah, this is a type of ceramic, which means it's application as a real world superconductor is really limited

If it is really what they claim it is but cannot be formed in anything much larger than dust-sized flakes, it would still have uses in stuff like ferrite-like cores for electromagnets, transformers and motors. It could also be used in place of permanent magnets. If they can make it cheaper than Neodymium and it can handle magnetic field densities at least as strong, there will be plenty of possible uses.

 

[ingtar33]

If it is really what they claim it is but cannot be formed in anything much larger than dust-sized flakes, it would still have uses in stuff like ferrite-like cores for electromagnets, transformers and motors. It could also be used in place of permanent magnets. If they can make it cheaper than Neodymium and it can handle magnetic field densities at least as strong, there will be plenty of possible uses.

correct. there are uses, but the big uses they want for a room temp superconductor... such as replacing copper wire are basically impossible. still its an interesting type of ceramic. i just wish there was some real world confirmation. the videos such as this one all look like dimagnitism, furthermore several major labs have tried to reproduce this material with no luck. the only confirmation came from a computer simulation which seemed to imply this material had properties of a superconductor, but the lab which created the simulation hadn't made the material yet.

 

[purpleduggy]

the problem with reproducing the result is that they don't want to share the tech. the first usage and likely primary funding for research will be military and it is beneficial to their strategy if competing nations fail at reproducing it. Its like saying because no one but tsmc and samsung is capable of manifacturing at 2nm node, then 2nm node does not exist because other countries can only do 28nm. not at all. skill issue.

 

[PEnns]

"And as we'll detail below, you might also find difficulty sourcing some of the materials needed."

Do you really expect people to run and start their own experiment at........Superconductor Fabrication??

 

[Friesiansam]

No idea who this Andrew guy is, but it looks like he's just looking for attention on Twitter rather than producing anything useful.

Anyway, I think this story is dead now.

Yours', is the kind of attitude to scientific experimentation and discovery, that would see us still stuck in the Dark Ages.

 

[toffty]

Yours', is the kind of attitude to scientific experimentation and discovery, that would see us still stuck in the Dark Ages.

And yours would bankrupt governments.

From the outset LK99 appeared dubious and needed to be verified.
The media way over hyped this and really needed to wait for verification to come in before saying this was the next amazing discovery

Just because someone has an idea doesn't mean we should throw money at it.

 

[InvalidError]

The media way over hyped this and really needed to wait for verification to come in before saying this was the next amazing discovery

Even if LK-99 is real, fact still is that it would be a crystalline material, which means its applications will be limited to whatever applications can make use of whatever shape and size crystals it can be made into.

Being non-metallic likely crushes most hopes of using it for conventional superconductor purposes.

 

[Francisco Alexandre Pires]

And yours would bankrupt governments.

From the outset LK99 appeared dubious and needed to be verified.
The media way over hyped this and really needed to wait for verification to come in before saying this was the next amazing discovery

Just because someone has an idea doesn't mean we should throw money at it.

If you were in control of a media outlet (I'm not), would you cover a pre-print paper published within a scientific repository titled "The First Room Temperature Superconductor"?

And if you did, where did the hype start? With your media company, that was covering the consequences of a material that claims to be "The First Room Temperature Superconductor", or the paper that claims it?

This while actually stating all along the way (at least in Tom's coverage) that it "may", "but", "salt", pepper, and whatever more words are needed to convey the idea that this isn't a win yet, but that it's interesting, and it has to be looked into because of how important it might be?

I think it's great that this is out in the public's mind. How many more hype waves are required to spread information on superconductors and chemistry and DIY experimentation throughout society? Because I want all of them that can know about it, to know about it.

Discussion isn't action, however - so who's jumping on a hype?

 

[thisisaname]

Not sure I would call it cooking. When you cook some their is a recipe, this looks more like alchemy.

 

[toffty]

I think it's great that this is out in the public's mind. How many more hype waves are required to spread information on superconductors and chemistry and DIY experimentation throughout society? Because I want all of them that can know about it, to know about it.

Discussion isn't action, however - so who's jumping on a hype?

It's great to get the details out by mentioming an article in a scientific article. To hype train this as a great discovery by the media prior to the hypothesis and experiment from going through the scientific method and peer reviewed will only continue to seed doubt in science.

If anyone is interested in learning about the bleeding edge, subscribe to a scientific journal

 

[InvalidError]

To hype train this as a great discovery by the media prior to the hypothesis and experiment from going through the scientific method and peer reviewed will only continue to seed doubt in science.

The hype train slowed down quite a bit after more people started pointing out that LK-99 is crystalline, which will likely make it horrendously more difficult to work with unless you can use the crystals as-is.

 

[SkyBill40]

This feels like the ol' "too good to be true" sunk cost fallacy, at least until it can be recreated repeatedly.

 

[Francisco Alexandre Pires]

It's great to get the details out by mentioming an article in a scientific article. To hype train this as a great discovery by the media prior to the hypothesis and experiment from going through the scientific method and peer reviewed will only continue to seed doubt in science.

If anyone is interested in learning about the bleeding edge, subscribe to a scientific journal

I don't think we'll find common ground here.

The articles I've been writing all feature links to the original papers, and links to analysis done by scientific publications - those who want to go to the source, can. Do you expect the population to dive into papers and understand what the hell they're talking about within the confines of scientific jargon? Yes, people can subscribe to a scientific journal - but how many of them do? For those that don't (what, 98% of the population?), this is the "only" way they'd even know of these developments. And again: at no point in time was this sold as a done deal. At least, not here.

As for seeding doubt in science... Well, perhaps the general population having a look at what exactly the scientific process entails (which we took pains to draw attention to here) is what's needed for them to look at sciency stuff with a less distant outlook.

 

[ingwe13]

I don't think we'll find common ground here.

The articles I've been writing all feature links to the original papers, and links to analysis done by scientific publications - those who want to go to the source, can. Do you expect the population to dive into papers and understand what the hell they're talking about within the confines of scientific jargon? Yes, people can subscribe to a scientific journal - but how many of them do? For those that don't (what, 98% of the population?), this is the "only" way they'd even know of these developments. And again: at no point in time was this sold as a done deal. At least, not here.

As for seeding doubt in science... Well, perhaps the general population having a look at what exactly the scientific process entails (which we took pains to draw attention to here) is what's needed for them to look at sciency stuff with a less distant outlook.

FWIW, I think you have been doing fine. We live in an age of overhype and that makes people (rightfully) very skeptical. I think this claim is extremely dubious. But it is worth reporting in an outlet like this and you have done a good job highlighting in articles that this may turn out to be nothing.

 

[purpleduggy]

And yours would bankrupt governments.

From the outset LK99 appeared dubious and needed to be verified.
The media way over hyped this and really needed to wait for verification to come in before saying this was the next amazing discovery

Just because someone has an idea doesn't mean we should throw money at it.

just because you want to reproduce a result doesn't mean you will have the skill or equipment to do so. the South Korean lab is out of most people's league. even manufacturing normal superconductors is a already a challenge that few labs can produce.expecting everyone to reproduce it in their garage or underfunded university lab is a fantasy.

 

[Francisco Alexandre Pires]

FWIW, I think you have been doing fine. We live in an age of overhype and that makes people (rightfully) very skeptical. I think this claim is extremely dubious. But it is worth reporting in an outlet like this and you have done a good job highlighting in articles that this may turn out to be nothing.

This was good to read. Thanks.

 

[ingtar33]

Not sure I would call it cooking. When you cook some their is a recipe, this looks more like alchemy.

that's because it's a type of ceramic not metal... and it doesn't work apparently. it might have been diamagnetism caused by some sort of impurity in the original material.

 

[ingtar33]

As for seeding doubt in science... Well, perhaps the general population having a look at what exactly the scientific process entails (which we took pains to draw attention to here) is what's needed for them to look at sciency stuff with a less distant outlook.

I thought your article was fine.

The issue here is there are a lot of red flags around this claim. For one it's a type of ceramic meaning even if it was a superconductor, it's applications would be extremely limited. Secondly no one has been able to reproduce the effects, third all the effects displayed thus far could be a type of dimagnitism, not superconductivity. The only confirmation came from a computer simulation, and since no one could reproduce even the dimagnitism displays, it's highly likely the sample the chinese made was contaminated with something that produced that dimagnitism shown on the videos.

also apparently the scientist who published did it behind the team's back in an attempt to claim credit for it by himself.

I think it's an interesting story, but the warning signs were there that this wasn't what we were looking for.