Thursday, January 13, 2011

Wine Makes Super Conductors More Super and Scientists Smarter

So, a little sip of something turns out to make potential superconductors much better at their jobs. And, perhaps, scientists better at their jobs as well.

Told you. There is absolutely nothing wrong with drinking :). Clink

Yoshihiko Takano and other researchers at the National Institute for Materials Science in Japan were in the process of creating a certain kind of superconductor by putting a compound in hot water and soaking it for hours. They also soaked the compound in a mixture of water and ethanol.

It appears the process was going well, because the scientists decided to have a little party. The party included sake, whisky, various wines, shochu, and beer.

At a certain point, the researchers decided to try soaking the compound in the many, many liquors they had on hand and seeing how they compared to the more conventional soaking liquids.

…. About 15 percent of the material became a superconductor for the water mixed with ethanol, and less for the pure water. By comparison, Shochu jacked up conductivity by 23 percent and red wine managed to supercharge over 62 percent of the material.

Link

Cornell University Library

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