Question:
How do superconductors work and what are some current developments in
the field of superconductivity?
Replies:
That is a question with a lot of very complicated answers.
You should try looking up superconductors in the library.
The most important recent development was the discovery
of high-temperature superconductors, which can do it
at much higher temperatures than was previously thought
possible (still down around liquid nitrogen temperatures
though - minus 200 degrees Celsius). The way they work
basically is that the electrons pair up because of
some attraction (in the low temperature case the
distortion of the atomic lattice of the crystal, the source
of attraction in the high temperature case is unknown) and
these electron pairs are able to avoid the defects and
other features of materials that normally lead to
resistively. It is somewhat mysterious, I guess, involving
some advanced concepts from statistical physics. I
do not know of any good elementary explanation, but try
the library...
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