# Room Temperature Superconductor (though there are issues)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/room-temperature-superconductor-though-there-are-issues/922954>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [October 14, 2020, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/room-temperature-superconductor-though-there-are-issues/922954 "2020-10-14T17:42:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\
**Post date:** [October 14, 2020, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/room-temperature-superconductor-though-there-are-issues/922954/1 "2020-10-14T17:42:51Z")

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Some combination of Hydrogen, Sulfur and Carbon has reached superconductivity at 60 F

1. Not exactly sure what the substance is
2. Needs ~2 million atmospheres of pressure

> **[First room-temperature superconductor reported - PAPER RETRACTED](https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/10/high-pressure-superconductors-reach-room-temperature/)**
>
> A few million atmospheres of pressure let mundane chemicals superconduct.

Brian

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**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\
**Post date:** [October 14, 2020, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/room-temperature-superconductor-though-there-are-issues/922954/2 "2020-10-14T17:55:34Z")

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> [@N9IWP](#):
>
> Needs ~2 million atmospheres of pressure -

That seems…impractical.

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**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\
**Post date:** [October 14, 2020, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/room-temperature-superconductor-though-there-are-issues/922954/3 "2020-10-14T18:00:49Z")

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Weird. I wonder why the pressure matters?

Gas giant cores are a place I’d think you could have those conditions in Nature, 200 GPa and 300K sound possible there. If so, how does superconductivity affect their chemistry, if at all?

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**Author:** ![peccavi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peccavi/32/388_2.png) [@peccavi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peccavi)\
**Post date:** [October 14, 2020, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/room-temperature-superconductor-though-there-are-issues/922954/4 "2020-10-14T21:20:43Z")

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> [@Gray\_Ghost](#):
>
> Weird. I wonder why the pressure matters?

While it is speculative without knowing more about the actual material that is going superconducting (there are no measurements of the chemical or crystallographic structure of this material at pressure), we know that superconductivity is the pairing of electrons mediated by interactions with the lattice. One way to change the lattice to make it more conducive to the exact mediation needed is to apply pressure, changing bond distances and distorting the lattice structure.

It’s not a completely new direction in new superconductors. Researchers have been applying pressure to modify Tc and other superconducting properties since forever (or, in my experience, the 70’s). In fact, the discovery of the 90 Kelvin superconductor, YBCO (Yttrium Barium Copper Oxide), was by a researcher (Paul Chu) who had spent his PhD exploring superconductivity under pressure. He theorized that he could replicate the effects of pressure by substituting some larger atoms in a standard perovskite lattice (the larger atoms change the bond length and distort the lattice). It worked.