The world of energy and electronics may transform as a result of the discovery of a new superconductor material, according to a team of scientists. The breakthrough might pave the way for hovering trains and ultra-efficient electrical grids.
According to the New Scientist, an assistant professor named Ranga Dias at the University of Rochester in New York and his colleagues claim to have made a material from hydrogen, nitrogen, and lutetium that becomes superconductive at a temperature of just 69 degrees Fahrenheit and a pressure of 1 gigapascal. That is nearly 10,000 times the atmospheric pressure on Earth’s surface, but still a far lower pressure than any previous superconducting material.
“Let’s say you were riding a horse in the 1940s when you saw a Ferrari driving past you-that’s the level of difference between previous experiments and this one,” says Dias.
In a paper published in scientific journal Nature, the researchers describe how they combined the three components to create the material by pressing it between two diamond anvils, a device that compresses materials to extremely high pressures.
Scientists studying a cousin of the bacteria responsible for tuberculosis and leprosy have discovered an enzyme that converts hydrogen into electricity, and they think it could be used to create a new, clean source of energy literally from thin air.
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