In late July of 2023, two papers were published by researchers from South Korea about the discovery of a room-temperature superconductor. The material was named LK-99. It instantly caught the attention of the whole scientific community worldwide, and researchers immediately began testing. They eventually found that LK-99 isn’t a superconductor at room temperature after all. But why did this discovery immediately grab the attention of the science folks? Superconductors are important for technology, and the discovery of room-temperature superconductors would be Nobel Prize-worthy.

But first, a little crash course on what a superconductor is. Superconductors are fluids/solids with zero viscosity when lowered to a certain temperature and pressure. Simply put, you make the fluid spin, and it’ll never stop. You run electricity through it; it’s 100% output. So, they’re the pinnacle of conducting materials for use in electrical devices. But the warmest superconductor is hydrogen sulfide at 203 K, or -70.15º Celsius.

Our technology has been improving at an ever-accelerating rate for many years. But some objectives that have been in mind for a while still haven’t come to fruition. The use of superconductors is one such objective. Although superconductor coils are already used in MRI machines, they’re small. If they can be used more commercially, they can speed up computer chip processing speeds. Not only that, it can be used to speed up the delivery of electricity anywhere and everywhere. But enough of the talk on the technology part. Let’s talk about why it’s Nobel Prize-worthy.

Finding a room-temperature superconductor is one of the biggest goals for researchers at present. On Popular Mechanics, Darren Orf said this discovery would be,“an achievement that’d be on par with the discovery of electromagnetic induction or the creation of the first transistor.” As a superconductor that can be used at room temperature is discovered, technology can take a huge step forward. It will allow for things like the maglev train to be built. Deliver much more electricity while using less energy to generate it. The computing speed of computers could be enhanced much more, along with the creation of better storage devices. The battery life of cars, phones, laptops, tablets, etc., could be explosively extended, and storing wind and solar energy would become much easier than it is at the moment.

Although this recent news was very big, it was a false claim. There are bound to be more false claims as researchers continue the search for a room-temperature superconductor. But for those who were confused, now you know more about why those articles suddenly started appearing. But who knows? Maybe a little after this article is published, someone might find that superconductor we’ve been looking for.

<Jonathan Kim New Covenant Academy 9th Grade>