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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
This 8 page paper discusses superconductors, their history, uses, and the future of the research. Bibliography lists 8 sources.
Page Count:
8 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_HVSupCon.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
A very basic definition of a superconductor is that its a conductor of electricity, but one that has no resistance whatever to cause energy loss. A more formal definition
is that a superconductor is "[A]n element, inter-metallic alloy, or compound that will conduct electricity without resistance below a certain temperature. Resistance is undesirable because it produces losses in
the energy flowing through the material" (Superconductor). The electric current flowing through a closed loop of superconductor material is the closest thing we have to a perpetual motion machine (Superconductor).
History of Superconductors The first time superconductivity was observed was in 1911, when Dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes of Leiden University cooled mercury "to the temperature of liquid helium,
4 degrees Kelvin (-452F, -269C)" (The history of superconductors). When he did, its resistance dropped to zero (The history of superconductors). However, mercurys properties of superconductivity are only
observable at or within 4 degrees of "absolute zero," the "coldest temperature that is theoretically attainable (The history of superconductors). Its obvious that working with substances at more than
450 degrees Fahrenheit below zero is difficult, dangerous and impractical. Nevertheless, the discovery was exciting and Onnes won a Nobel Prize in physics in 1913 (The history of superconductors).
The next important discovery in the field was made in 1933 by "German researchers Walter Meissner and Robert Ochsenfeld, [who] discovered that a superconducting material will repel a magnetic field
(The history of superconductors). This is called "strong diamagnetism" and is sometimes referred to as the "Meissner effect" (The history of superconductors). "The Meissner effect is so strong
that a magnet can actually be levitated over a superconductive material" (The history of superconductors). Throughout the subsequent decades, superconducting "metals, alloys and compounds were discovered," including niobium-nitride, vanadium-silicon, and
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