Supraconductive

Supraconductive refers to a state where a material exhibits zero electrical resistance and expels magnetic fields, a phenomenon known as the Meissner effect. This state occurs below a critical temperature, denoted as Tc, which varies for different materials. The first supraconducting material discovered was mercury in 1911 by Heike Kamerlingh Onnes.

Electrical current can flow through a supraconductor indefinitely without any energy loss due to heat. This property makes supraconductors highly attractive for applications requiring efficient energy transfer, such as power grids and superconducting magnets used in MRI machines and particle accelerators. The Meissner effect, the expulsion of magnetic fields, allows supraconductors to levitate above magnets, a phenomenon often demonstrated to showcase their unique properties.

The development of high-temperature supraconductors, materials that superconduct at temperatures above the boiling point of liquid nitrogen (77 K), has significantly broadened the potential applications of this technology, making it more practical and cost-effective. Research continues to discover new supraconducting materials and to understand the fundamental mechanisms behind superconductivity, aiming to achieve supraconductivity at even higher temperatures and pressures.