Superconductors & physicist Essay Example for Free

Superconductors physicist Essay Superconductivity was discovered by a Dutch physicist Kammerlingh Onnes in 1911 while studying â€Å"resistivity of mercury at low temperature† (Halliday 1999). To his surprise he found that below a temperature of about 4K mercury suddenly lost all its resistivity that was named by him as a superconductor. Conductors are those substances through which electricity pass to a larger extent. Superconductors are conductors that lose their resistance at a very low temperature. Every conductor possesses resistivity up to a certain extent whereas; superconductors lose their resistivity at low temperature. Superconductors are conductors with zero resistance. Functions and Applications Nowadays superconductors are used by scientists in making different things like noise reduction filters, communication satellites, mobile signal receivers, and other sophisticated and important machines which are extremely useful to us. Extensive researches are being carried out to design superconductors and ceramics to be used future for communication technology (Klauda 2000). Several experiments are conducted to reveal the possibility of cryogenic and high-temperature superconductor technology for use in base transceiver stations (BTS’s) and communication satellites for global mobile communication (Klauda 2000). Super conductors has helped a lot in the medical field by saving and diagnosing a lot of disorders in the human body like introducing MRI(magnetic resonance imaging) in which image is made of the inner delicate parts of the human body such as brain, stomach etc (Uses for Superconductors). Super conductors have also played a major role in advancing the transport system by replacing the huge electromagnets with super conducting magnets thus making it faster. A train operating on super conducting magnet attained an unbelievable speed of 361 mph (Uses for Superconductors). Electric generators composed of super conductors are of great importance because they are much better than the ordinary and typical generators. Super conducting generators produce much more electricity than ordinary generators. Nowadays efforts are made to commercialize these generators in order to fulfill the energy need of the world. Nowadays superconducting transformers have also been introduced to the world. In some countries underground cables including copper are replaced by superconductors making it more efficient than ordinary copper cables. Modern calculations reveal that supper conducting cables are 7000% efficient than ordinary copper cables (Uses for Superconductors). It is believed that in the next decade superconductors will replace electrical appliances in which copper is used. Super conductors are also used in industry to make Ultra high performance filters. Future of Superconductors Superconductors are of high utility in the future. Beside benefits there are also some drawbacks of using superconductors on a larger scale. Superconducting magnets are hazardous to human health thus restricting the commercial usage of MAGLEV vehicles (Uses for Superconductors). Another hitch in the wide usage of superconductivity is its high cost that for several decades restricted the functions of superconductors. Since superconductivity is attainable only at a very low temperature that is achieved in a bath of liquid helium. Since helium is found in very little quantity in the atmosphere is therefore, extremely costly limiting the functionality. After decades of hectic research, liquid nitrogen has replaced helium lowering the cost to a greater extent. References Halliday, David. (1999). Physics (Vol.2 Extended Version, 4th Ed).Robert Resnick, Kenneth S Krane. John. John Wiley Sons, Inc. New York Klauda, Matthias. (July 2000). Superconductors and Cryogenics for Future Communication Systems. Tobias Kasser, Bernd Mayer, Christian Neumann, Frank Schnell, Bachitor Aminov, Arno Baumfalk, Heinz Chaloupka, Serguei Kolesov, Helmut Piel, Norbert Klein, Stefan Schornstein, and Martin Bareiss. IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, vol. 48, no. 7, 1227 Uses for Superconductors. Accessed August 19, 2008 http://superconductors. org/Uses. htm