# Room Temp Superconductivity Found?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/room-temp-superconductivity-found/635893>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 26, 2012, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/room-temp-superconductivity-found/635893 "2012-09-26T16:13:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\
**Post date:** [September 26, 2012, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/room-temp-superconductivity-found/635893/1 "2012-09-26T16:13:33Z")

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Scientists have found water-impregnated graphite posesses certain properties associated with superconductivity.

[http://www.nature.com/news/tantalizing-hints-of-room-temperature-superconductivity-1.11443](http://www.nature.com/news/tantalizing-hints-of-room-temperature-superconductivity-1.11443)

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**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\
**Post date:** [September 26, 2012, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/room-temp-superconductivity-found/635893/2 "2012-09-26T16:23:48Z")

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This doesn’t sound all that promising, really. It sounds a lot more like an observed characteristic thought to be exclusive to one class of material is found to exist in another class. It’s a good thing to discover, since it would further knowledge of magnetism, but unless it actually conducts, it’s not something we can call a superconductor.

But I’ll stop throwing out my pencil shavings just in case.

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**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\
**Post date:** [September 26, 2012, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/room-temp-superconductivity-found/635893/3 "2012-09-26T18:41:52Z")

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Here’s the graph with hard numbers.  
[http://www.technologyreview.com/view/429203/room-temperature-superconductivity-found-in/](http://www.technologyreview.com/view/429203/room-temperature-superconductivity-found-in/)

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**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\
**Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/room-temp-superconductivity-found/635893/4 "2012-09-27T02:18:48Z")

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They’re not claiming to have discovered a room-temperature superconductor, they’re claiming to have discovered a treatment that causes a change in the magnetic behavior at the surface of graphite granules, a change which they say is consistent with superconductivity. They believe by studying what’s happening at these surfaces, higher temperature superconductors might be developed.