What is a Superconductor?
A superconductor is a substance that allows electricity to pass through it with no resistance. Since there is no resistance the same amount of energy put into a superconductor is the same that comes out. Superconductivity was discovered in 1911 by Heike Kammerlingh Onnes, a Dutch physicist who conducted experiments in the area of low temperatures.( found at www.ornl.gov/reports/m/ornlm3063r1/pt2.html) He made the first superconductor by lowering the temperature of a mercury wire to 4 K or 452* C and found that the resistance suddenly dropped to 0. In one of Onnes experiments he started a current in a lead wire that was cooled to 4 K, a year later the current was still flowing in the wire without any significant loss. Giving a substance superconductivity by lowering it s temperature changes it s magnetic field along with lowering it s resistance. If a magnetic field is put near a superconductor then it is repelled unless the field is strong enough then the substance losses it supercondu
Superconductivity is a property displayed by certain materials at very low temperatures. Materials found to be superconductive include metals and their alloys (tin, aluminum, and others), some semiconductors, and certain ceramics known as cuprates which contain copper and oxygen atoms. A superconductor conducts electricity without resistance, a unique property. It also repels magnetic fields perfectly in a phenomenon known as the Meissner effect, losing any internal magnetic field it might have had before being cooled to a critical temperature. Because of this effect, certain superconductors can be made to float endlessly above a strong magnetic field. For most superconducting materials, the critical temperature is below about 30K (30°C above absolute zero). But some materials, called high-temperature superconductors, make the phase transition to superconductivity at much higher critical temperatures, typically higher than 70K and sometimes as high as 138K. These materials are almost a
A superconductor is a substance which conducts an electric current with zero resistance. Superconduction is a phase state (like the liquid and solid states of the water); as such, it depends on the temperature among other variables. The temperature where the transition takes place is the critical temperature (Tc). In 1911, H. Kammerlingh Onnes discovered superconductivity working over mercury.
Superconductors are materials that conduct electricity with no resistance. This means that, unlike the more familiar conductors such as copper or steel, a superconductor can carry a current indefinitely without losing any energy. They also have several other very important properties, such as the fact that no magnetic field can exist within a superconductor. Superconductors already have drastically changed the world of medicine with the advent of MRI machines, which have meant a reduction in exploratory surgery. Power utilities, electronics companies, the military, transportation, and theoretical physics have all benefited strongly from the discovery of these materials. A brief history of superconductors The first discovery of a superconductive material took place in 1911 when a Dutch scientist named Heike Kammerlingh Onnes, who was also the first person to liquefy helium, and reached temperatures as low as 1.7 kelvin (K). In the 1960s, two unrelated discoveries made closely together u
A superconductor is a material that can conduct electricity or transport electrons from one atom to another with no resistance. This means no heat, sound or any other form of energy would be released from the material when it has reached “critical temperature” (Tc), or the temperature at which the material becomes superconductive. Unfortunately, most materials must be in an extremely low energy state (very cold) in order to become superconductive. Research is underway to develop compounds that become superconductive at higher temperatures. Currently, an excessive amount of energy must be used in the cooling process making superconductors inefficient and uneconomical. Superconductors come in two different flavors: type I and type II.
