Superconductors are materials that lose all electrical resistance below a certain temperature. In other words, if we keep on cooling such materials, below a certain temperature we will observe that the materials offers no resistance to the flow of electricity through them. The temperature at which loss of electrical resistance takes place is known as the critical temperature. For example, the element cadmium becomes a superconductor at 0.56 K. Similarly, mercury is a superconductor at 4.153 K. This loss of electrical resistance is the most remarkable aspect of these materials.
The superconductors based on pure elements (such as cadmium, zinc, mercury, lead, etc.) are known as type I superconductors and need to be cooled to very low temperatures to make them superconductors. Type II superconductors, on the other hand, are made of a combination of elements and are superconductors at much higher temperatures. For example, Nb3Ge has a critical temperature of 23.2 K.
No comments:
Post a Comment