Superconductor?

[Mark]

Does anyone know the current state of superconductor research? Seems to me an actual room temperature superconductor (if one can exist) would solve pretty much ALL our energy problems, wouldn't it?

[Occasional Chemist]

Originally posted by Mark
Does anyone know the current state of superconductor research?

I'm a couple of years out of the loop on this one, but has anyone come up with a substance that becomes a superconductor at anything higher than liquid nitrogen temperatures? That was state-of-the-art two or three years ago.

[Mark]

I'm a couple of years out of the loop on this one, but has anyone come up with a substance that becomes a superconductor at anything higher than liquid nitrogen temperatures? That was state-of-the-art two or three years ago.

I think so...by a few degrees, anyway. Last I heard, they keep raising the temperature, bit by bit, depending on the combination tried. I know they were having some progress with (of all things) ceramic materials. The problem for me is that they keep giving the temps in Kelvin!

[Agammamon]

The best S/C are still at only a few degrees above LN. That in itself is warm enough for many application but these ceremic S/C are brittle and do not form into wires very well in addition to losing their S/C properties in intense magnetic fields, which, unfortunately, is the area where they would be of most use in current (no pun intended) applications.

[Occasional Chemist]

Originally posted by Mark

I think so...by a few degrees, anyway. Last I heard, they keep raising the temperature, bit by bit, depending on the combination tried.


A quick Google search says that the current "record" is about 163K (-110 C or -166 F). That's at 300K atmospheres pressure, though. At normal pressure, the "record" seems to be 138K (-135C, -211F).

That's cold. But not as cold as Bud Ice. :)


The problem for me is that they keep giving the temps in Kelvin!

Liquid N2 boils at around 77K, as a point of reference.

More info
here (http://superconductors.org/type2.htm#record) .

The superconductors that operate at liquid nitrogen temperatures or better appear to have commercial applications.

(Disclaimer: I don't do superconductor research, but I've a friend that worked on some of the ceramic materials.)

[Occasional Chemist]

Originally posted by Agammamon
[...] ceremic S/C are brittle and do not form into wires very well in addition to losing their S/C properties in intense magnetic fields

Shocking ...


[Bad chemist! Bad chemist! No biscuit!]

[Mark]

Shocking ...

I am sensing some resistance to electrical punning! Feels right at ohm to me.

[jj]

Originally posted by Mark
Shocking ...

I am sensing some resistance to electrical punning! Feels right at ohm to me. Well, yes that does have some potential, but you'll get impedence put in your way at your admittance of puns, at least currently. If it were in my power, I'd try to get back to a phase where anti-punners would network as hard. Then your pun would be a circuit winner.

[Mark]

Well, yes that does have some potential, but you'll get impedence put in your way at your admittance of puns, at least currently. If it were in my power, I'd try to get back to a phase where anti-punners would network as hard. Then your pun would be a circuit winner.

LOL!!!!!! That's it fermi. I need to go replace a broken tube in my amplifier anyway. The question is, "is it tube B or not tube B?" Yes, that is the quesion.

[kedo1981]

We residents of Neptune have had a room temp superconductor for some time now

[Soapy Sam]

Having just dropped in from the "Scotsmen invented Everything" thread, I must point out that Lord Kelvin was a guid Scot, choosing his title from the river that runs around Glasgow University.

Being a typical son of the north, he worked with the windows open and his sleeves rolled up. Believe me, in old G.U., the wiring IS MADE OF room temperature superconductors. Has been for over a century. You have to crack the methane ice on the boilers every morning, just to make the tea. This should explain why Kelvin temperatures start so low...

(The man also started what may be the longest running experiment in the physical sciences- Kelvin's pitch glacier- still on show today. ) Not the most exciting experiment, I have to say.

(ps. His mother was actually in Belfast when he was born, but Irish is next best if you can't actually be Scottish.)

[Mark]

(ps. His mother was actually in Belfast when he was born, but Irish is next best if you can't actually be Scottish.)

By ancestry I am both: 50/50.

[xouper]

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