{"id":5799,"date":"2013-05-02T14:28:30","date_gmt":"2013-05-02T14:28:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/scholarship\/?p=5799"},"modified":"2014-12-02T08:27:02","modified_gmt":"2014-12-02T08:27:02","slug":"the-chemistry-and-physics-of-superconductors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/scholarship\/2013\/05\/02\/the-chemistry-and-physics-of-superconductors\/","title":{"rendered":"The Chemistry and Physics of Superconductors"},"content":{"rendered":"

Overview:\u00a0 What Are Superconductors?<\/strong>
\nSuperconductors are substances that do not resist electrical flow at all when they are cooled below a certain temperature.\u00a0 Electrical currents can flow indefinitely without using extra voltage; and no energy is lost to heat.\u00a0 Those properties make superconductors very efficient when used in devices such as MRI magnets, mass spectrometers, and the magnets used in particle accelerators.\u00a0 However, it has been difficult to measure how and why superconductors behave as they do.<\/p>\n

How Do Conventional Conductors Work?<\/strong>
\nConventional conductors, such as metals, conduct electricity along a current so that individual electrons can be measured \u00a0while they are flowing in a continuous stream, until the current has stopped. This is the process for most electrical energy, currents, and wires. Copper, silver, and gold are the best conductors because they each have one electron in their outermost valence, which can easily be given up to join the flow of electrons.\u00a0 \u00a0The disadvantage is that a certain amount of energy is lost along the way, so that power is expended in the process.\u00a0 In addition, a constant stream of electrons are needed to keep the stream flowing because of electrical resistance.<\/p>\n

The Phase Transition<\/strong>
\nSome substances show a shocking transition when they are cooled below a certain temperature.\u00a0 Above that temperature, they show resistance to electrical current in a typical pattern of heat loss.\u00a0 At that temperature and below, they show none.\u00a0 That means that the electrons can flow freely, conducting electricity through the substance.\u00a0 Once the current is started, it can flow forever, with no added power, and no heat loss.\u00a0 This phase transition occurs for some substances near to absolute zero, and for others above the boiling point of liquid nitrogen.\u00a0 Chemically, the electrons in those substances, form pairs, called Cooper-pairs, that move freely from one part of the lattice to another.\u00a0 Copper, silver, and gold do not have a phase transition because they do not have free Cooper-pairs of electrons.<\/p>\n

High-Temperature Superconductivity<\/strong>
\nThe most useful substances for superconductivity are those that the phase transition occurs at higher temperatures, as they are easier to work with and keep chilled to the correct temperature.\u00a0 Liquid nitrogen boils at 770<\/sup> K (-1960<\/sup> C), and it is much easier to produce, store and use to cool compounds such as complex ceramics and other types of superconductors.\u00a0 Scientists have developed a process of studying the effects of magnetic fields in high-temperature superconductors to see how well the electrons align in pairs.<\/p>\n

Magnetism and Superconductors<\/strong><\/p>\n

In many superconductors, layers of superconducting material are balanced with other types of material, such as in ceramics and alloys.\u00a0 A loop of continuous current appears to levitate above magnetic fields, which allow superconductors to be used in very powerful electromagnets, such as those used in MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) machines, powerful magnetic trains, and nuclear accelerators.\u00a0 Future applications may include more efficient power grids, as superconducting materials are developed with phase transitions at higher temperatures.<\/p>\n

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Overview:\u00a0 What Are Superconductors? Superconductors are substances that do not resist electrical flow at all when they are cooled below a certain temperature.\u00a0 Electrical currents can flow indefinitely without using extra voltage; and no energy is lost to heat.\u00a0 Those properties make superconductors very efficient when used in devices such as MRI magnets, mass spectrometers, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,12],"tags":[403,1153,1323,1780],"class_list":["post-5799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chemistry","category-physics","tag-cooper-pairs","tag-mri","tag-phase-transition","tag-superconductors"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/scholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/scholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/scholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/scholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/scholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5799"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/scholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5799\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/scholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/scholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schooltutoring.com\/scholarship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}