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/sci/ - Science & Math

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15793501 No.15793501 [Reply] [Original]

Whats a material that could theoretically exist, but doesn't yet and could change our lives the same way plastics have?

>> No.15793516

>>15793501
Dilithium crystals

>> No.15793517

Room-temperature superconductors. Island-of-stability elements (maybe)

>> No.15793519
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15793519

>>15793501
Room temperature superconductors. That whole episode a few months back was a torturous mix of hopium, copium, and cynicism.

>> No.15793522

>>15793517
>Island-of-stability elements
QRD? I've heard of the concept but I'm not really sure what the potential applications would be.

>> No.15793534

>>15793522
Chemical engineers might have better ideas than me, but they would probably be denser than anything we have. I’d expect high melting temperatures as well.

>> No.15793541

>world changing material on par with "just one word: plastics"
magnetic monopole. it's impossible but imagine what you could do with it.
new metamaterials: engineers are making new "materials", which are just existing elements arranged in strange specific repeating patterns to give the resulting object weird properties. so far ive only heard of this being used by militaries to make their jets etc very stealthy and by scientists to make better detectors and imagine equipment.
new quantum materials: like quantum dots
>>15793522
>potential applications
that's the fun part. these would be entirely new elements, possibly with entirely new properties loosly predictable through trends in the periodic table and more strongly predictable by actual chemists and physicists. go wild with your guessing.

>> No.15793798

>>15793541
>new metamaterials: engineers are making new "materials", which are just existing elements arranged in strange specific repeating patterns to give the resulting object weird properties. so far ive only heard of this being used by militaries to make their jets etc very stealthy and by scientists to make better detectors and imagine equipment.
new quantum materials: like quantum dots
Check out geotextiles. They're just three-dimensional plastic lattices but they can retain the same amount of soil as several (ten at a guess) orders of magnitude as much mass of concrete and rebar.