Superconductors make highly efficient electronics, but the ultralow temperatures and ultrahigh pressures make them costly and difficult to use. Room-temperature superconductors promise to change that.
Magnetic levitation is just one of the interesting attributes that make superconductors so interesting.
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Superconductors are materials that can transmit electricity without any resistance. Researchers are getting closer to creating superconducting materials that can function in everyday life.
Superconducting cables transmit electicity without losses.
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Pegor Aynajian, Binghamton University, State University of New York
Generating energy usually means wasted heat. Semiconductors let the electrons flow with zero waste – but so far scientists only know how to get them to work at ultra-low temperatures.
Heike Kamerlingh Onnes in his laboratory in Leiden.
Marine Joumard
Helium lifts balloons and makes our voices squeak. But its supply on Earth is finite and is critical for modern industrial processes and medical imaging in hospitals. How worried should we be?
Layering substances like graphene in new ways could help us to build quantum computers or transmit electricity over long distances.
Strange new materials that propel the fictional Star Trek universe are being developed by scientists in reality today. Above, the USS Discovery accelerates to warp speed in an artist’s rendition for the TV series Star Trek Discovery.
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Just what is a superconductor? And what can it be used for? Research using superconductors at higher temperatures opens up more possibilities for this fascinating class of materials.