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by EasyMark 552 days ago
Why is room temperature important, what if "the world's first superconductor at 0C" was the headline?
2 comments

I don't think room temperature is important per se. Rather it's shorthand for a superconductor that functions without special cooling. Even if the temperature range is somewhat limited, it's still possible to be pretty useful (e.g. deep ocean temps are fairly cold and stable so a superconducting cable to power repeaters on fiber optic cables might be useful).
I agree, 'room temp' isn't exactly precise. Even if it could work at 'room temp' if it didn't work just above that it would be too finicky for a lot of applications. Somewhere around there is likely the 'magic' point for a huge number of applications that will change the world. The perfect would be, of course, one with a very broad range of environments it could perform in. I think we are on track to figure out how to make something truly sci-fi in its properties: Strong, wide range of temp/conditions, flexible, etc etc. Once we get the theory perfect I bet the world will really open up.