Physics
Truly convenient materials that can conduct electricity perfectly have long been sought after by researchers, but their history is one of difficult experiments, theoretical puzzles and scientific controversy
Room-temperature superconductors could be transformative for science
Science Photo Library/Alamy
It has been over a hundred years since researchers discovered that some materials can conduct electricity perfectly. Such a superconductor could be transformative for science and technology, but all claims of creating one that would work at room temperature and pressure, including recent studies of a material named LK-99, have proven controversial.
Superconductivity was discovered in 1911 when physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes noticed that a mercury wire cooled to about -269°C (-452°F) doesn’t resist the flow of electricity. Within a few years materials …
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