But the hunt for a superconductor – that is, a material that can conduct electricity without resistance – that can operate at room temperature is nothing new.
Right now, superconductors can operate only at very cold temperatures. So, finding one that could work at room temperature without needing to be kept in a cold chamber could revolutionize everything from power grids and medical equipment to quantum computing. But physicists first have to figure out how to make them work.
So, how do these materials manage to conduct electricity without resistance, and what sorts of technological possibilities lie on the horizon, with superconductor research improving every year? Here are three stories from The Conversation’s archive that explore the history, science and future of this incredible physical phenomenon.
1. Physics behind the phenomenon
How is it even possible to generate a current with zero electrical resistance, the basis for superconductivity? In order to do so, you must keep your conducting metal cold. Really cold. Like, hundreds of degrees below zero.
“At normal temperatures, electrons move in somewhat erratic paths. They can generally succeed in moving through a wire freely, but every once in a while they collide with the nuclei of the material,” wrote Mishkat Bhattacharya, a physicist at Rochester Institute of Technology. “These collisions are what obstruct the flow of electrons, cause resistance and heat up the material.”
But the hunt for a superconductor – that is, a material that can conduct electricity without resistance – that can operate at room temperature is nothing new.
Right now, superconductors can operate only at very cold temperatures. So, finding one that could work at room temperature without needing to be kept in a cold chamber could revolutionize everything from power grids and medical equipment to quantum computing. But physicists first have to figure out how to make them work.
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