Superconductors

Posted on Thursday, 2 October 2014 by



From the name we can guess that superconductors are such conductors which have a very high conductivity (theoretically infinite) or zero resistance.  Usually in all conductors there are obstacles for electrons to flow like, collisions with other atoms of the material, repulsive forces between electrons (as we know like charges repel each other), impurities of the conductors, thermal disturbance created by temperature increase of the conductor etc. In a superconductor these obstacles are eliminated to have a perfect conduction. 

Copper effect: In a superconductive state, electrons are paired together to help each other maintain a significantly higher velocity through the medium.   

 
superconductivity
Superconductivity with years

History: Superconductivity was first discovered in 1911 but until 1986 it was of no use as it was only attainable at 23K (=-250C). In 1986 physicist Alex Muller and George Bednorz increased the temperature to 30K by using Lanthanum barium copper oxide. After few months of the same year professor Paul Chu and Man Kven Wu raised the temperature to 95K using a superconductor of Yttrium barium copper oxide.

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