South Korean researchers published papers suggesting they had discovered a room temperature superconductor. However, another paper with resistivity charts shows resistance that is like regular copper. A group in China is reported to have made the LK-99 material and is not getting superconductivity. However, it is early and we are waiting for published results for confirmation. It might just be a strong diamagnetic material. There is more work and study needed to determine and confirm if the hoped for superconductor is confirmed.
Diamagnetism is a property of all materials, and always makes a weak contribution to the material’s response to a magnetic field. However, other forms of magnetism (such as ferromagnetism or paramagnetism) are so much stronger such that, when different forms of magnetism are present in a material, the diamagnetic contribution is usually negligible. Substances where the diamagnetic behavior is the strongest effect are termed diamagnetic materials, or diamagnets. Diamagnetic materials are those that some people generally think of as non-magnetic, and include water, wood, most organic compounds such as petroleum and some plastics, and many metals including copper, particularly the heavy ones with many core electrons, such as mercury, gold and bismuth.
Above – Diamagnetic levitation of pyrolytic carbon
Superconductors may be considered perfect diamagnets because they expel all magnetic fields (except in a thin surface layer) due to the Meissner effect.
Diamagnetism is a property of matter, superconductivity is a state of matter. Diamagnetism describes how a material reacts when plunged into a magnetic field.
Diamagnets may be levitated in stable equilibrium in a magnetic field, with no power consumption. Earnshaw’s theorem seems to preclude the possibility of static magnetic levitation. However, Earnshaw’s theorem applies only to objects with positive susceptibilities, such as ferromagnets (which have a permanent positive moment) and paramagnets (which induce a positive moment).
I have bad news. I am growing increasingly convinced that LK-99 is simply diamagnetic, rather than superconducting. It lines up well with existing evidence (susceptibility, levitation, lack of heat capacity singularity, etc.)
Expectation vs. reality. https://t.co/1Rh26ZV4Nj pic.twitter.com/tWhVAVu0Yq
— Alex Kaplan (@alexkaplan0) July 27, 2023
Note that they did NOT observe levitation. Could be signs that the levitation is a diamagnetic artefact with some luck in fabrication and the B field breaks superconductivity.
— Alex Kaplan (@alexkaplan0) July 27, 2023
This is an emotional rollercoaster. I translated the original Korean paper. Are we back??? https://t.co/PsCMyRGjd6 pic.twitter.com/22xIXuNXJL
— Andrew McCalip (@andrewmccalip) July 27, 2023
Seems like a straightforward error. We’ll do both. Team should have the PbO + Pb(SO4) Lanarkite in the furnace tonight. We’ll do photo dump later.
PSA. This is all for fun. We’re a few enthusiastic engineers doing this as a hobby project, we just want to see the rocks float.… pic.twitter.com/m406JbCYdT
— Andrew McCalip (@andrewmccalip) July 28, 2023
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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