xpost from https://lemmy.world/post/2494271
Researchers have discovered a new compound called LK-99 that could enable the fabrication of room-temperature, ambient-pressure superconductors. Two separate sources have provided very preliminary confirmations of this breakthrough, including a simulation indicating it could be possible and a short video from Chinese researchers that seems to indicate some properties of superconductivity.
The simple chemistry is pretty specific and doesn’t work very well (it usually makes a semiconductor instead, and even when it does work, it’s a few tiny impure specks most of the time).
Why is it unbelievable?