A trio of South Korean physicists has claimed to have discovered a way to achieve superconductivity at room temperature with their creation of LK-99, a creation that if true, will have the potential to revolutionise technology as we know it.

Conductors such as aluminum and copper, are generally materials that can transmit light, heat, sound, or electricity and are present in all electronic devices. However, its pain point is electrical resistance causes energy to be lost as heat when current flows through them. Which becomes a significant issue, especially in long-distance power transmission or high-current applications.

Superconductors are materials that can conduct electricity without any resistance. Although they have been around for decades they have been limited in practical use by a requirement of extremely cold temperatures to maintain their superconductivity. Being a room-temperature superconductor like LK-99, on the other hand, is a game changer.

Eco-friendly levitating trains, ultra-efficient continent-spanning power and telecom lines, and electronics devices that could respond exponentially faster. Medical equipment like MRI machines would no longer require extreme cooling and thus be cheaper and the era of overheating computers and smartphones might become a thing of the past.

Check out this video explaining it below:

However, the research on LK-99 has not yet undergone peer review, and its results have not been independently replicated. One of the researchers claimed and included video evidence, that LK-99 demonstrated the Meissner effect – the expulsion of a magnetic field from a superconductor during its transition to the superconducting state when it is cooled below the critical temperature.

A Twitter user, Andrew McCalip, is attempting to recreate the superconductor based on the paper’s specifications, and is estimated to be completed today. If successful, it could lend more weight to the claim.