Superconductors
What is a Superconductor?
Superconductors are high temperature conductors with a resistivity of 0 at low temperatures.
According to Websters - "A synthetic material that have very low or no electrical resistance. Such experimental materials are being investigated in laboratories to see if they can be created at near room temperatures. If such a superconductor can be found, electrical transmission lines with no little or no resistance may be built, thus conserving energy usually lost in transmission.Superconductors could also have uses in computer chips, solid state devices and electrical motors or generators"
Superconductors are usually an inter-metallic alloy, that at or below a certain temperature have very low electrical resistance. The electrical current can be ran in a loop which makes it the closest thing to perpetual motion or a "macroscopic quantum phenomenon".Superconductors [1])
Applications for Superconductors:
- Magnetically levitated trains such as the Yamanashi MLX01 MagLev Train - High-voltage transmission lines with no electrical resistance - Electric generators that use superconductors are more efficient than conventional generators - High speed miniaturized electronic computer chips - Biomagnetism which is used as a non-invasive means of imaging the body
History of Superconductivity
- Discover in 1911 by Dutch Physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes
- by the electrical resistance of mercury and other metals abruptly dropped to 0
Additional Facts
- Superconductors have a resistivity of 0 at low temperatures
- Indefinite Current Flow
- No Velocity
- Ceramics - a superconductor - able to superconduct at significantly higher temperatures (35K)
- superconducting material excludes magnetic fields from its interior - There is a loss of resistance at temperatures below the critical temperature
Related Terms
Additional Sites
[2] [3] [4] This site is amazing puts it in a way anyone can understand.