Why Are There Memes About Superconductors? The Buzz Around LK-99 Explained

Do you keep seeing all these superconductor memes in your feed and have no idea why is everyone suddenly talking about physics like they're the expert? What's the deal with LK-99 and why its discovery, if legitimate, is so important not just for scientists, but for humanity as a whole? We got your memes and your physics questions covered in our brief explainer.

What Is A Room-Temperature Superconductor?

In physics, superconductivity is a property of a material that involves zero electrical resistance. To put it simply, superconductors are materials that are able to conduct electricity so efficiently that they are very sought for — and most of all, a material that has this property at room temperature and normal pressure.

A discovery of such a material would mean a whole number of technological breakthroughs, including near-lossless electricity transition, cheap production of powerful magnets, quantum computing applications, better energy storage, cheaper MRI machines and magnetic trains and much, much more.

And that is why when in July 2023 a group of South Korean researchers reported the creation of the superconductive material LK-99, the reported discovery drew massive attention, first from physicists, and then from everyone else.

The First Room-Temperature Ambient-Pressure Superconductor:

A material called LK-99, a modified-lead apatite crystal structure, achieves superconductivity at room temperature. pic.twitter.com/Xlm90Zabtg

— AI Breakfast (@AiBreakfast) July 26, 2023

Where Do Superconductor Memes Come From?

A few days after the scientific paper was published, Twitter user and Princeton University graduate Alex Kaplan made a thread about the discovery, explaining the potential applications of the material. The first tweet in the thread went absolutely viral, launching discussions – and memes – about superconductors.

Room-Temperature Superconductors In Memes

The LK-99 paper being published at the same time Nolan's film Oppenheimer premiered in the movies delivered a one-two physical punch, sparking public interest in science and physics – something that quickly found reflection in memes

Oppenheimer wasn't the only thing in the zeitgeist that was merged with superconductors in terminally online minds.

It's important to understand that this isn't the first time physicists "discover" room-temperature superconductors – it's just all the previous findings were proven to be incorrect, or even pure bogus. That is why a lot of memes express much skepticism about LK-99.

And seeing how hustle culture enthusiasts jumped the NFT and crypto train to get on the AI hype made jokes about them abandoning that as well to move the last money they have left into superconductor business a natural thing.

Is Room-Temperature Superconductor Research Legit

If you just got all hyped for The World If meme coming true in the next decade or so, we have to bring you down to Earth: the findings are yet to be confirmed, and many scientists are skeptical that they ever will be confirmed … fingers crossed, though.

For the full history of Room-Temperature Superconductor memes, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.