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by A superconductor is a material that will conduct electricity without any resistance. This property would allow the transfer of energy without resistive heat loss enabling greater efficiencies in power transfer. Within electronic devices, this permits operating at lower voltages, higher speeds and without bulky cooling equipment. Achieving superconductivity generally requires cooling metals to near absolute zero which is not convenient for casual users. Until now, Magnesium diboride (MgB2) has been one of the "warmest" superconductors at a balmy 39 degrees Kelvin. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute in Germany demonstrated room temperature superconductivity by compressing hydrogen compounds called silane - produced by bonding a silicon atom with four hydrogen atoms.
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I'm not sure how the bevy of scientific journals screwed the pooch on this one, as the research teams, in retrospect, were very deliberate with their comments. Nevertheless, the creation of a hydrogen-based solid represents significant progress in the 'hopeful' arena. Whether or not it leads to a feasible superconductor, is, of course, to be determined.
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Not Quite by shogun_6 :: NR4 :: on 09 April 2008
Not to sound contradictory, but researchers have not tested the material at room temperature yet. From reducedmass.com,
"What they did was follow up on a suggestion made in 2004 by Prof. Ashcroft of Cornell, that suggested that if high enough density of hydrogen could be prepared in a solid, it might exhibit superconducting properties. He suggested using Hydrogen rich compounds, which is exactly what they did (Silane). They did indeed achieve this high density hydrogen state in silane, and subsequently detected superconductivity. The temperature they found it to superconduct at was actually 16K (around 280K would be room-temperature), at a pressure of 120 Giga-Pascal, and as Dr. Tse said, 'A good understanding of the mechanism may lead to the design of materials with even higher T_c'."
Well ... that sucks. by VnutZ :: NR8 :: on 09 April 2008
Those dirty rotten, misleading scientists! Next thing we know, they'll be telling us the Earth is round ...