Beijing Superconductor (LK-99) Levitation Video Author Admits Fraud, Takes it Down::The author of one of the Billibilli videos posted as proof of LK-99’s levitation capabilities has admitted that his posting was a hoax.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The original poster of one of the Billibilli videos circulating on the Internet and seemingly proving LK-99’s levitation ability has come forward, and admitted his clip was a hoax.
The video in question is allegedly from the University of Science and Technology in Beijing and purports to show a small black substance floating in the air as it follows a magnet.
Whenever a claim as momentous and potentially civilization-changing such as “we’ve found the world’s first room-temperature superconductor” is made, noise is bound to follow.
But even focusing on the hard science (which we want to be clear, replicable, and truthful) and moving on to the boundaries of peer-review scientific process, it becomes difficult to deal with the noise.
Neither the cooking time (how long at what temperatures the mixtures have to stay within a vacuum oven for LK-99 to be synthesized and whether there’s thermal variation at any moment) nor the quench rate (the same, but when it needs to cool down) are, however, well-documented.
The video poster ultimately claimed that the experience of being a part of the noise had changed him, and that he’d be more cautious with his actions and words in the future.
I’m a bot and I’m open source!
Question for clarity, does it’s levation have anything to do with whether or not it’s a superconductor?
What I’ve gathered from many of the discussions around this topic is that the levitation is a notable feature of superconductors due to th Meissner(?) Effect. So if it couldnt levitate, there would be no reason to suspect that it is a superconductor. Because it does levitate, superconductivity is one of a few possibilities.
There have been indicators it may be a semiconductor instead, but apparently the conditions to accurately produce the material are vague/not fully understood - so attempts at reproduction have failed to rule it in or out 100%
Levitation is a fun way to demonstrate that you’ve got a superconductor. That’s not the only way to make things levitate, so not all levitating things are superconductors.
Yeah thats a pretty good summary of what I was trying to convey. If this didn’t levitate, no one would’ve blinked twice. But since it did, its being investigated more thoroughly to check if its one of those other things that levitate (or actually a superconductor)
The reason that superconductors levitate it that they are perfectly diamagnetic. There are other materials that are strongly diamagnetic, such as bismuth , that can be made to levitate but normally the effect is not stable enough without additional components, such as being sandwiched between two powerful magnets. However Pyrolytic carbon will levitate , at room temperature, above a strong enough magnet in the same way as a superconductor would.
I think we’re starting to lose the bigger picture - Re-read that first sentence after the headline (emphasis mine):
“This is only one of several videos from different sources claiming to show the substance levitating.”
This isn’t about LK-99 per se, but one of the videos that came after the announcement, likely trying to capitalize on it if only for views. There’s still hope LK-99 can be corroborated.
