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Comment by Kelteseth | Hacker News Reader

Can someone please explain if this is enough to prove the existence? What additional test would need to be run to be absolutely sure?

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If I remember my physics classes properly, it does not. The video shows that the sample is at least paramagnetic[1], but it could also be a superconductor of type 1. I think a better test would be to see if the sample gets quantum locked [2] in the presence of a magnetic field. From [2]:

>Superconductors have one “card” in their sleeves – the ability to transfer currents without resistance. These supercurrents produce a magnetic field that interacts with the external field and are the source of the levitation and suspension forces.

If that would happen, we would definitely know this is a superconductor of type 2. If, instead, is a type 1 what we saw in the video could be just due to repulsion due to the Meissner effect [3] and having an heterogenous sample (i.e. one part is repelled more compared to the other one which points towards the magnet).

[1] https://www.britannica.com/science/rock-geology/Basic-types-... [2] https://quantumlevitation.com/what-is-superconducting-levita... [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meissner_effect

Am not very knowledgeable about physics and have only looked up the related concepts (so take what I say with a huge grain of salt), but doesn't the video show that it is more than paramagnetic? Because the person takes the magnet and changes its orientation, and the sample still levitates (meaning there is a good case for it being a perfectly diamagnetic?).

Again, am a just a laymen.

Zero resistance while conducting electricity. Levitating is nice but the important part is zero resistance.

It would be ironic if we got floating rocks but no superconductivity.

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