Basically the title question. We don't have a room-temperature seni-conductor now. I am curious though if it is one of those technologies that is possible and how early in our tech development would such a thing be possible and appliable? The implicatons would be huge. We could build long range power lines and cables with zero resistance and connect grids across oceans allowing mankind to better harness sources of natural energy over great distances.
Alternate history tech question: Could we, with greater investment and research, have developed a room-temperature superconductor by the 1990s?
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RamscoopRaider
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We won't know until we actually develop a room temperature standard pressure* superconductor whether it was possible or not. My gut is that while possible I don't think there are PODs that would allow it to occur before 2000 without completely making the world unrecognizable
*I assume you want superconducting in standard pressure, rather than requiring a diamond anvil cell to generate gigapascals of pressure. If you are satisfied with that then yes totally possible, but the economic applications are basically nonexistent
*I assume you want superconducting in standard pressure, rather than requiring a diamond anvil cell to generate gigapascals of pressure. If you are satisfied with that then yes totally possible, but the economic applications are basically nonexistent
Garrison
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The basic problem is we don't know if its actually possible, I mean you could put all the money you want into developing a perpetual motion machine and it still won't happen. Then at the other end of the scale you get Graphenes which were a major surprise that no one expected but have proven difficult to turn into practical applications.
Texas Center for Superconductivity - Wikipedia
Now, their idea of “high temperature” is slightly above that of liquid nitrogen! Plus, it’s my understanding that the material is rather brittle.
All the same, credit to my city’s University of Houston for at least getting the ball rolling!
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Nowadays they are getting a lot better at actually shaping this family of high-temperature superconductors into wires and putting them to useful work. Had that been available by the 90s, I wager a lot of tech would be more advanced than it currently is.Texas Center for Superconductivity - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
Now, their idea of “high temperature” is slightly above that of liquid nitrogen! Plus, it’s my understanding that the material is rather brittle.
All the same, credit to my city’s University of Houston for at least getting the ball rolling!