Properties of Superconductors by Kevin Ngo

Imagine a world without electricity. The lives of humankind were revolutionized by the ability of certain materials to conduct electricity. Yet even these materials have their flaws. Superconductivity prevents an undeniable solution to a problem which has been evident since the advent of conductors. Conductivity and resistance are two different sides of the same coin. Resistance measures how strongly a material will oppose an electrical current. For example, when a filament light bulb is switched on, it begins to heat up after a short period of time. In this case, electrical energy is transferred into heat energy due to resistance. So, what if there was no electrical resistance? This is exactly what we observe in superconductors. Superconducting materials are 100% efficient at conducting electricity, meaning no energy is lost. In the UK, approximately 7.7% of energy is lost every year due to resistance when transferring energy from power stations to our households. This is enough energy for 4.87 million people, more than half the population of London. So you may be asking yourself, if such conductors existed, why are we not using them? The properties of superconductors only arise when the material is cooled below a critical temperature. If we were to take ice cream as our superconductor, then we could say that it really isnt that great when it is above its critical temperature. But once below this point, nothing can beat it on a hot day in the summer. The only problem is that the critical temperatures of superconductors are very low. Early superconductors usually had critical temperatures less than 243.2 C. Just to put this into perspective, the temperature on a cold winter night in the UK rarely drops below -10C. On a positive note, breakthroughs in material science have discovered materials with critical temperatures of up to 135 C, which are now branded as High Temperature Superconductors. These are used in machines such as MRI scanners, and over 1,600 superconductors are used in the LHC in CERN. Now if you thought having zero electrical resistance wasnt enough, there are more to superconductors than meets the eye. When superconductors are cooled to below their critical temperature, it transitions from a normal material to a superconducting one. At this point, it also exhibits a special property called the Meissner Effect. Placing a superconductor within the magnetic field of a conventional magnet causes small electrical currents to run across the surface of the superconductor. This will repel any magnetic force. But near the surface of the superconductor up to a small depth, the magnetic force is not completely rejected, but instead it is frozen in place.

Ultimately, this lets magnets levitate above superconductors as shown in Figure 1. And I assure you this is not sci-fi! Superconductors and all of their properties are real, and have real life applications. For example, Maglev trains use electromagnetic superconductors to provide frictionless transport. Figure 1 shows a superconductor exhibiting levitation There are still many problems with superconductors, such as the extremely low temperatures at which their properties arise. But a Nobel Prize is still up for grabs for the discovery of a room temperature superconductor. Such a discovery would surely revolutionize our lives.

Name: Kevin Ngo Tutor: A. H. Harker Word count: 537 Figure 1 source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Meissner_effect_p1390048.jpg