<h5>What is a superconductor?</h5><p>We know that electricity flows through cables to power our devices, toys, lights, etc. When electricity passes through such ordinary materials, it encounters resistance (similar to what we face while riding a bicycle on a bumpy road). This resistance causes some of the energy to be lost as heat (which we do not want to happen).</p><p>A superconductor is a material that conducts electricity with no resistance. This means that electrical energy can flow through superconductors without losing energy. Scientists use superconductors to create incredible things like super-fast trains that can move around without touching the tracks, super-strong magnets for medical instruments, etc.</p><figure class="image"><img src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/newsahoot.appspot.com/o/potential-superconductor-goes-viral%2Fsuperconductor.jpeg?alt=media&amp;token=547225e1-26b2-4931-80e8-276f8196f0fa"><figcaption>A superconductor levitating a magnet. Photo by Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0.</figcaption></figure><p>However, superconductivity can only be achieved at very low temperatures. So, researchers are trying to produce superconductors that can work at room temperature. Well, there’s one that’s been talked about recently.</p><h5>Which superconductor is being talked about?</h5><p>Just like how Tony Stark discovered and used a mini version of the ARC reactor to power his Ironman suit, a South Korean research team has claimed to have found a superconductor that works at room temperature. The research team from a company, Quantum Energy Research Centre in Seoul, South Korea, reported about LK-99 (the name of the new superconductor).</p><div class="raw-html-embed"><figure> <iframe width="100%" height="350" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HRLvVkkq5GE" title="Meissner Effect" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><figcaption>Meissner Effect demonstrated using a superconductor that has been cooled. Video by Harvard Natural Sciences Lecture Demonstrations.</figcaption></figure></div><p>It is a compound of copper, lead, phosphorus, and oxygen. The researchers say that LK-99 shows two indications of superconductivity: zero electrical resistance and the Meissner effect. Under this effect, when a superconductor is cooled below a certain temperature, the material releases magnetic fields, causing magnets to hover above it.</p><p>The tiny ARC reactor in Tony Stark’s chest is a superconductor that - 1. keeps pieces of shrapnel from piercing his heart (by creating a magnetic field under the Meissner effect) and 2. powers his Ironman suits (with zero electrical resistance). But can such a superconductor exist in reality?</p><p>The announcement by the South Korean team sparked replication efforts by scientists (even in India). However, initial attempts to replicate the LK-99 superconductor have failed. So, the scientific community remains sceptical about this new discovery. Some say the videos of LK-99 that went viral are fake.</p><p>So far, the scientific community has not accepted that LK-99 is, in fact, a room-temperature superconductor.&nbsp;</p>

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