Superconductivity at room temperature??

[!Kaggen]

Someone sent me a link to this site about a South African physicist Dr. Johan Prins.

In 2001 Dr. Johan F. Prins serendipitously discovered the formation of a superconducting phase at and above room temperature.
In his groundbreaking experiment electrons were extracted from a modified diamond-substrate into a vacuum-gap between the diamond’s surface and a ball-shaped, gold-coated metal-conductor. At a critical voltage the extracted electrons filled the gap and then acted as charge-carriers. An electric-current thus started to flow between the diamond and the conductor.

Further extraction of electrons increased the density of charge-carriers between the diamond surface and the conductor. From the laws of electronics this increase in charge-carriers mandated that the effective-voltage across any two points within the body of extracted electrons must decrease in concert. The extracted electron-density reached a magnitude at which the effective-voltage became exactly zero. It was experimentally found that an electric-current kept on flowing.

It has been deduced but never directly proven that superconduction occurs when electrons flow from one point to another without an effective voltage across these points. Johan Prins is thus the first scientist who obtained direct experimental proof that this could actually happen and he is also the first to reason out a plausible explanation why this is at all possible.

This discovery led to the subsequent development of wafer-substrates on which superconduction occurred at room temperature. It also indicated that all of the presently-accepted models for superconduction needed to be revisited.

http://www.cathodixx.com/index.asp

Not being a physicist I would appreciate any comments which might shed some light on what this is all about or not?

 

[fspeak]

Someone sent me a link to this site about a South African physicist Dr. Johan Prins.




Not being a physicist I would appreciate any comments which might shed some light on what this is all about or not?

It looks like woo to me. We would really love room temperature superconductors...but this guy is resorting to selling books about 'The Phyics Delusion' and calling for non-physicists to get involved because physicists won't listen.

I can't find (with a quick search) any real discussion of his results, so I can't say he's wrong, but there's no particular reason to believe him either.

 

[The Don]

He may have found room temperature conductivity but......

- Why is he (self) publishing books rather than papers ?
- Why isn't he prominently associated with a major university or other research institute ?
- Why is he promoting via a website ?

If he has found room temperature superconductivity or made major steps towards it, the world would be beating a path to his door.

 

[Ririon]

It would be quite easy to double check this. Look at the list of Nobel Prize winners for physics for 2002 and 2003. If his name is there, then this is OK. If not, this is at best blown out of all proportions.

 

[INRM]

What kind of technology could come out of room-temperature superconductors

 

[ben m]

Not being a physicist I would appreciate any comments which might shed some light on what this is all about or not?

From the description, which is very vague, it sounds like the guy's a crackpot. My guess would be that he did some kind of spark-gap experiment in his garage, misinterpreted the results ("The resistance suddenly read 0.000 on my Fluke multimeter!") as superconductivity, and latched on to the idea with both hands.

This is consistent with the fact that Prins has also self-published a book entitled "The Physics Delusion", whose blurb I will quote without comment.

How the decline in scientific objectivity has transformed physics into a dogmatic, fundamentalist, organised-religion.

In this book the author re-examines accepted concepts in Physics. He presents credible thinking that presents alternate interpretations for quantum mechanics as well as for some of the assumptions on which electro-magnetic theory is based.

Although mathematical equations and advanced Physics are discussed, the author has found an approach which allows a full understanding and comprehension of his arguments by any reader.

This book stands to revolutionize the very foundations of our understanding of Physics.

“Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds”
-Albert Einstein

The author is personally and solely responsible for the content and opinions expressed in this book. This book is a robust attempt to redirect physics from the present realm of fairytales. It could not be avoided to name people. If those of them, who are still alive, feel affronted, it is not personally intended: I had no other choice since the content of this book is in the interest of our future as human beings.

 

[Crossbow]

Sounds fishy to me!

According to the author, room temperature super-conductors have been around since 2001 and we are only finding out about it now.

If such a thing was possible, then I would expect this data to be quite well known and quite well verified by now.

 

[Scott Haley]

If a scientist could make a room temperature superconductor work in a repeatable, reliable way, he'd get the Nobel prize in physics (as Ririon pointed out), and if he could patent it, he'd become a billionaire. It's like the JREF challenge times a thousand.

 

[Loss Leader]

What kind of technology could come out of room-temperature superconductors

Computers you could hold in one hand that would be as powerful as an entire server farm.

 

[Giggywig]

What kind of technology could come out of room-temperature superconductors

Mind reading devices, computers capable of surveillance of whole cities, all sorts of goodies.

 

[Skwinty]

Prins is a crackpot.

See an excerpt from his book..

"MODERN PHYSICS IS ROTTING!

If it should be found that any newly-proposed physics is able to model
any aspect, no matter how small, which the existing physics cannot, the latter
physics must be wrong; and must thus be reconsidered, modified, or
replaced - no matter who has postulated it and no matter if a Nobel Prize has
been awarded for it: One small fact is enough to discredit accepted dogma
no matter how well it seems to explain all other aspects (see also section 29)!
If “scientists” do not scrupulously adhere to this approach, paradigmshifts
in physics will be blocked, and physics will be splashing around in a
quagmire: Exactly as it is doing at present! In my opinion, new knowledge is
so important for the survival of humankind that any physicist who violates this
golden rule should be charged in the World Court with crimes against
humanity.
It is ironic that the “physics-church” wants the general public to believe
that they actually follow this “golden rule”, and that this is why physics is
supposedly “self-correcting” while “other disciplines” are not. They have,
however, established an even worse mentality than the one which had
resulted in Galileo being put under house arrest by his peers just because he
dared to argue that the earth might not be the unique, stationary centre of our
universe!"

 

[ben m]

This article is enlightening:

http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/17244

Prins has:

a) an experiment in which the resistance drops to a low-ish value which Prin guesses is zero, and on which there are no other superconductor-like measurements (persistent current, Meissner effect, etc.)

b) A theoretical paper or two, possibly unpublished, which argue that the phenomenon ought to be actually superconducting.

That's it.

 

[Gord_in_Toronto]

And the word of the day is replication.

 

[!Kaggen]

What I find really interesting about these type of people is how they never find funding for their ideas.
Hell there are people funding crackpot ideas all the time in the world of finance, politics and religion......

 

[Olowkow]

What kind of technology could come out of room-temperature superconductors

Almost limitless list of advances. Mag-lev cross country trains, thinner power lines, efficient motors for battery powered cars, etc. Room temperature superconductivity would be almost as revolutionary as discovering "perpetual motion" (free energy), which is impossible.

 

[ben m]

What I find really interesting about these type of people is how they never find funding for their ideas.
Hell there are people funding crackpot ideas all the time in the world of finance, politics and religion......

Not "never". Steorn had funding for perpetual motion. Mark Goldes (DBA Magnetic Power, inc., Room Temperature Superconductors Inc., etc.) appears to have had investors, and IIRC he had a DARPA grant at one point. Alexander Mayer, who used to (and maybe still does) go around APS meetings shaking hands and handing out business cards, may have gotten some money from one of the Pritzker zillionaires. The Autodynamics people claim to have people investing in their documentary. Cold fusion, Podkletnov gravity shielding, and the Dean Drive all attracted investors.

And no one is counting the amount of money that crackpots are spending out of pocket, or out of the family's rainy day fund, or borrowing from friends and family, etc.

 

[sol invictus]

What I find really interesting about these type of people is how they never find funding for their ideas.
Hell there are people funding crackpot ideas all the time in the world of finance, politics and religion......

One reason is that physics experiments are fairly expensive, and to get a grant from any government agency requires going through a lengthy and rigorous peer-review process. If you're an insane crank, that's a pretty big obstacle.

Almost limitless list of advances. Mag-lev cross country trains, thinner power lines, efficient motors for battery powered cars, etc. Room temperature superconductivity would be almost as revolutionary as discovering "perpetual motion" (free energy), which is impossible.

I'm not sure it would be so revolutionary. Lots of technologies would become significantly more efficient, but that's about it.

Something like controlled fusion power, which is basically unlimited free energy - that really would change the world dramatically (or more accurately, keep it from changing even more dramatically as fossil fuel reserves decrease).

 

[Almo]

And the word of the day is replication.

You're replication certainly replication good replication at replication replicating replication that replication word replication across replication the replication forum.

 

[Ririon]

Something like controlled fusion power, which is basically unlimited free energy - that really would change the world dramatically (or more accurately, keep it from changing even more dramatically as fossil fuel reserves decrease).

Just because it is "free" doesn't mean it is not very expensive. A solar panel is free fusion energy, too.

First we must manage to do it, then to do it efficiently on a large enough scale and THEN to make it economically competitive. Once we get there, nobody calls it "free energy" any more. But superconductors will in all likelihood be used extensively in fusion power plants at some point in time. (Traditionally 30 years from now at all times.)

I would think a technology with many uses (like a practical and not too expensive RT superconductor) would change technology and the world even more. But that is just my opinion. YMMV.

 

[ben m]

What I find really interesting about these type of people is how they never find funding for their ideas.

Another way of thinking of it is this:

If you're trying to do something impossible, no amount of funding is enough.

So take the perpetual-motion inventor who funded a wooden prototype out of pocket. The thing isn't a perpetual-motion machine, but the inventor thinks it is---he just needs a $5,000 picoammeter to prove it. (If the story ends here, we've got a crackpot who will tell you that his idea died for lack of funding.)

Suppose the inventor convinces his cousin to put up $10K to fund further experiments. He builds a metal prototype with fancy supermagnets and an expensive readout. Still not a perpetual motion machine, but the inventor thinks it is---it just needs $30,000 magnetic bearings. (If the story ends here, we've got a crackpot who will tell you that his idea died for lack of funding.)

Suppose the inventor cons $100,000 out of a gullible viscount or something. He blows through that on fancy literature, mass mailings, graphics, travel, and so on, as he tries to attract investors to this machine that he's certain is a few tweaks away from a Nobel. (If the story ends here, we've got a crackpot who will tell you that his idea died for lack of funding.)

And so on.

The only three endings for a crackpot story are:

1) The crackpot learns that his idea was wrong all along.
2) The crackpot goes to his grave thinking that he would have triumphed except for an external misfortune, having nothing to do with the truth of his idea, in the form of:
a) Lack of research funds
b) Academic closed-mindedness and/or industrial conspiracies
3) The crackpot was right all along and wins the Nobel.