Hot booze turns material into a superconductor

[The Straight Story]

Hot booze turns material into a superconductor

(PhysOrg.com) -- A Japanese scientist who "likes alcohol very much" has discovered that soaking samples of material in hot party drinks for 24 hours turns them into superconductors at ambient temperature.

The scientist, Dr. Yoshihiko Takano of the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) in Tsukuba, Japan, made the discovery after a party, soaking samples of a potential superconductor in hot alcoholic drinks before testing them next day for superconductivity. The commercial alcoholic beverages, especially wine, were much more effective than either water or pure alcohol.

Superconductors are metallic substances that allow electricity to flow through them with zero resistance below a certain temperature. Those found so far only work at very low temperatures (often as low as near absolute zero), and so finding one that works at room temperature could have important applications, such as power lines with superconducting cables, and perhaps in levitation of large objects like trains, since superconductors can repel magnetic fields. The phenomenon is still not completely understood even though superconductors have been known since their discovery in 1911 by a Dutch scientist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes.

The researchers created the samples of FeTe0.8S0.2 by sealing iron (Fe), tellurium (Te) and tellurium sulfide (TeS) powders into an evacuate quartz tube and heating the mixture at 600°C for 10 hours. This material is not normally a superconductor but can become one if exposed to oxygen or if soaked in water.

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-01-hot-booze-material-superconductor.html

[Duer 157099]

1. So many potential jokes here, I don't know where to begin

But I'm sure this thread will be overflowing with them soon enough. Ready? Set? Go!

[davidinalameda]

2. I want some sake after reading this

I have had some cold non-filtered sake which was pretty good

[HysteryDiagnosis]

3. Our high school band director was pretty amazing after a Friday night out

with the boyz, one might say that on Sat. morning rehearsals he too was a super conductor.

[Odin2005]

4. LOL!

[thaddeus_flowe]

5. enter term "peak alcohol" if this ever catches on.

[Confusious]

7. Booze is a renewable resource

thank god.

[stevedeshazer]

6. We've all seen that dude. The one that keeps ordering Spanish coffees.

He's superconductive for about 45 minutes, then passes out and you have to call a cab.