What is superconductivity?
Superconductivity is a phenomenon observed in several metals and ceramic materials. When these materials are cooled to temperatures ranging from near absolute zero ( 0 degrees Kelvin. -273 degrees Celsius) to liquid nitrogen temperatures (77 K. -196 C). their electrical resistance drops with a jump down to zero. The cooling of the materials is achieved using liquid nitrogen or liquid helium for even lower temperatures. While superconductivity at low temperature is well understood, there is no clear explanation as yet of this phenomena at "high temperatures".
The critical temperature is known to be inversely proportional to the square root of the atomic mass. Electrical resistance in metals arises because electrons moving through the metal arc scattered due to deviations from translational symmetry. These are produced either by impurities, giving raise to a temperature independent contribution to the resistance, or by the vibrations of the lattice in the metal.
In a superconductor below its critical temperature, there is no resistance because these scattering mechanisms are unable to impede the motion of the current carriers. As a negatively-charged electron moves through the space between two rows of positivety-charged atoms, it pulls inward on the atoms of the lattice. This distortion attracts a second electron to move in behind ЎL An electron in the lattice can interact with another electron by exchanging an acoustic quanta called phonon. Phonons in acoustics are analogous to photons in electromagnetic The energy of a phonon is usually less than 0.1 eV (electron-volt) and thus is one or two orders of magnitude less than that of a photon.
Thus superconductivity is an electrical resistance of exactly zero which occurs in certain materials below a characteristic temperature. It was discovered by Heike Kamerlinch Onnes in 1911. Like ferromagnetism and atomic spectral lines, superconductivity is a quantum mechanical phenomenon. It is also characterized by a phenomenon called the Meissner effect the ejection of any sufficiently weak magnetic field from the interior of the superconductor as it transitions into the superconducting state. The occurrence of the Meissner effect indicates that superconductivity cannot be understood simply as the idealization of perfect conductivity in classical physics.
The electrical resistivity of a metallic conductor decreases gradually as the temperature is lowered. However, in ordinary conductors such as copper and silver, this decrease is limited by impurities and other defects. Even near absolute zero, a real sample of copper shows some resistance. Despite these imperfections, in a superconductor the resistance drops abruptly to zero when the material is cooled below its critical temperature. An electric current flowing in a loop of superconducting wire can persist indefinitely with no power source.
In 1986. it was discovered that some cuprate-perovskite ceramic materials have critical temperatures above 90 K (?I83 °С). These high-temperature superconductors renewed interest in the topic because of the prospects for improvement and potential room-temperature superconductivity. From a practical perspective, even 90 K is relatively easy to reach with readily available liquid nitrogen (which has a boiling point of 77 K). resulting in more experiments and applications.
There is not just one criterion to classify superconductors. The most common are: By their physical properties: they can be Type I (if their phase transition is of first order) or Type Ц (if their phase transition is of second order); By the theory to explain them: they can be conventional (if they are explained by the BCS theory or its derivatives) or unconventional (if not); By their critical temperature: they can be high temperature or low temperature (generally if they need other techniques to be cooled under their critical temperature); By material: they can be chemical elements (as mercury or lead), alloys, ceramics, or organic superconductors, which technically might be included among the chemical elements as they are made of carbon