Since April 8, 1911, when Dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes famously wrote in his research notes “mercury practically zero” to denote the lack of electrical resistance in liquid helium, the science world has been fascinated with the possibility of one day discovering a room-temperature superconductor.
In the century since Kamerlingh Onnes’ initial discovery, scientists have made some progress in that arena. In the 1980s, for example, copper oxides were discovered to be high temperature superconductors (though they still require temperatures far below what you and I would consider comfortable). And in recent years, the intense desire for the discovery of a room temperature superconductor has created a kind “boy who cried wolf” problem in condensed matter physics. In 2023, Nature published a retraction for a controversial paper proclaiming the possibility of a such a superconductor (though, under atmospheric pressures), and that same year, South Korean researchers dubbed the material “LK-99” as another possible superconductor candidate (spoiler: it wasn’t).
This century-long search—which would easily nab anyone the Nobel Prize if they could discover such a material—has led some scientists to ponder a more basic question: do the limits of physics even allow for the creation of a room temperature superconductor? A new study, published in the Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, examines this question by analyzing the fundamental constants in nature, such as the Planck constant, electron charge, and electron mass. Thankfully, the end result shows that the upper limit of superconductivity resides somewhere in the range of 100 to 1000 Kelvin (approximately -280 to 1340 °F). For those keeping track, room temperature is around 293 Kelvin.
To read more, click here.