The room-temperature LK-99 superconductor excited the world about its potential before many scientists disproved it. However, its original researcher, Professor Young-Wan Kwon, strongly supports his research, explaining that the first published paper was incomplete. Most importantly, he announced that he would publish the complete, original version of his work.
Many are still captivated by ChatGPT and other generative artificial intelligence tools. Contrary to popular belief, the most significant advances often seem boring and mundane. The key to humanity’s next technological revolution may lie inside a dot floating above a metal plate. After all, it could transform every device you own, including offline ones.
This article will expand on Professor Young-Wan Kwon’s plan to publish the supposedly complete version of his research results. Later, I will explain superconductors so that readers can understand the importance of one that operates at room temperature.
Why was article LK-99 incomplete?
Photo credit: italy24.press
Brian Wang, founder of NextBigFuture.com and analyst for Z1 Consulting, reported on the latest LK-99 news. He says Professor Young-Wan Kwon made remarks about his room-temperature superconductor during his first lecture for the new semester at Korea University.
The tech news reporter translated his comments into English and posted them on social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter). Here are the professor’s statements:
- Lawrence Berkeley’s method is the same one I used.
- Only Lee Seok-bae can create Lk99.
- All the simulations have been around for 20 years and (the original team) is already aware of all the rebuttals (and issues raised by other global labs).
- Kwon and Lee have a decent relationship. It’s not a bad relationship. (There were rumors that Kwon was posting without consent and was not part of the team).
- Due to length restrictions, I (Kwon) only wrote half of the article; there are many more details left.
- I (Kwon) will continue posting articles later and show the real deal (super conductivity at room temperature).
- @Nature @dangaristo’s statements are absurd.
- If Lk99 could have been easily developed by others, it would have been created by now.
Wang said NextBigFuture.com discussed the LK-99 patent and original documents, briefly mentioning their work and measurements on thin films. The original researchers said that the thin-film chemical vapor deposition process is the only one that exhibits superconducting resistance.
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The film is a few microns thick and is an almost half-superconducting material. However, the initial publication of the peer-reviewed LK-99 document only briefly discusses it.
Wang says this is the most important part because “only chemical vapor deposited thin film has the zero-resistance superconducting measurement.” He also defended these results against replications from other laboratories.
In August and September 2023, they concluded that LK-99 was not a superconductor at any temperature. However, they only made bulk non-thin film samples.
Why were scientists excited about LK-99?
Photo credit: innovationorigins.com
Most people would scoff at a dot floating above a metal surface, so why are scientists around the world keen to replicate it? You’ll understand why once you learn more about conductors.
These days, all of our devices work with conductors, materials that allow electricity to flow through them. For example, your phone charger has copper wires, which are conductors.
However, most materials have resistance, which is a tendency to block a specific amount of current. Their atoms move and collide when they receive electrical charges.
This movement depletes the energy flowing through them, so a gadget receives less energy. Yet we have adapted to resistance to create modern devices.
Some have created superconductors by subjecting a conductor to extremely low temperatures. The cold prevents the atoms from moving too much, allowing more energy to flow.
Simulating this condition requires a lot of money, so only research organizations and technology companies can afford it. What if we created a superconductor capable of operating at room temperature?
We could significantly improve the performance of modern gadgets. For example, we could incorporate it into smartphones so that they have more processing power than desktop computers.
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After all, a room temperature superconductor reduces the chance of overheating due to increased computing power. Another interesting possibility is faster magnetic levitation trains.
Take Japan’s Chuo Shinkansen bullet train as an example. The Institution of Engineering and Technology claims it reaches speeds of up to 500 km/h (310 mph), cutting current travel times by more than half.
It uses superconducting technology to allow the locomotive to move without friction from the rails. If the LK-99 proves true, it could allow the Shinkansen to operate outdoors in the summer.
Conclusion
The original LK-99 researcher said he would release the full version of the room temperature superconductor. Teacher Young-Wan Kwon claims this will prove the validity of his research.
The full LK-99 paper purportedly shows that the material exhibits superconductivity, although other experts refute this. He has not released it at the time of writing this article.
You can learn more about how the superconductor works at room temperature by clicking here. Also see more digital tips and trends on Inquirer Tech.
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