TL;DR
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Scientists in South Korea have claimed to have discovered a room temperature super conductor (dubbed LK-99) that operates at ambient pressure.
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See, super conductors already exist. But, they need to be SUPER cold (around -460F or -270C) and kept under immense pressure (like Titan Sub pressure) to function.
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Which means they’re crazy expensive to run, and can’t be widely utilized.
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But a room temperature, ambient pressure super conductor would be able to run at no cost and be used to make an affordable desktop quantum computer.
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Quantum computers are great breaking encryption (aka passwords) – and without encryption, cryptocurrencies would no longer be secure – rendering them useless.
Full Story
Alright. Strap in, because we’re about to get weird.
You’re going to be asking questions like “what does that even mean?” and “how does this have anything to do with crypto?”
But don’t worry! We’ll cover it all and make it worth your while.
So, you ready? Ok, here goes…
Scientists in South Korea have claimed to have discovered a room temperature super conductor (dubbed LK-99) that operates at ambient pressure.
What does that even mean?
Super conductors are materials that conduct electricity with no resistance – meaning no energy is lost when the electricity is going through it, and no heat is generated as a result.
Which sounds kind of ‘meh’…
But this would be one of the greatest break throughs in the history of physics and would change the world as we know it.
See, super conductors already exist.
Buuuut, they need to be SUPER cold (around -460F or -270C) and kept under immense pressure (like Titan Sub pressure) to function.
Which means they’re crazy expensive to run, and can’t be widely utilized.
But a room temperature, ambient pressure super conductor would be able to run at no cost and be applied to a massive range of products/use cases.
Here’s an example of the benefits something like LK-99 could bring to the world – on a scale of 1-10.
(1 being ‘cool, but not revolutionary’ and 10 ‘holy hell, this changes everything’):
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1 – Charge your phone to 100% in seconds.
(No electrical resistance means no heat, which means your phone won’t blow up if it charges too quickly).
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5 – A desktop quantum computer.
Quantum computers look like this. All of that piping? It’s a cooling system.
The quantum chip is actually relatively small – but requires ice cold super conductors to work. LK-99 could massively reduce the size of quantum computers.
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10 – Free, clean fusion energy.
Fusion reactors essentially recreate a miniature version of the Sun inside a big metal tube.
Only problem is, the amount of energy it requires to run them currently out-weighs the energy they put out.
A big chunk of that energy spend goes towards keeping the super conductors cool (which help contain the ‘miniature Sun’ within the walls of the tubing).
LK-99 could tip the scales and make Fusion reactors return more energy than they consume…delivering clean, renewable energy at near zero cost.
Ok, that’s all veeery cool! But…
How does this have anything to do with crypto?
Well. You know how we mentioned the potential for a desktop quantum computer? Yeah. That’s an issue.
Quantum computers are great at many things…one of which is breaking encryption (aka passwords).
A cheap and accessible quantum computer would give a whooole bunch of people the ability to crack literally any password in the world with relative ease (regardless of complexity).
Which means cryptocurrencies would no longer be secure – rendering them useless.
…but then again – in a world where no passwords are secure, crypto storage would be the least of the world’s worries.
The good news/bad news (depending on which way you look at it):
The paper that was released announcing the discovery of LK-99? It’s yet to be peer reviewed and proven outside of that one lab in South Korea.
The scientists that published it have claimed to have created/tested LK-99…but the rest of the scientific community is yet (YET*) to replicate it.
*the paper was only released a few weeks back.
Phew. Ok. We got through it.
First the internet, then blockchain tech, then AI, now super conductors…we’re living through a WILD time in human history.
It’s as exciting as it is exhausting (/scary).
Be sure to rest up and drink plenty of fluids, folks.
