{"id":10796,"date":"2023-12-20T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-20T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/?p=10796"},"modified":"2023-12-06T06:02:44","modified_gmt":"2023-12-06T06:02:44","slug":"scientists-have-been-researching-superconductors-for-over-a-century-but-they-have-yet-to-find-one-that-works-at-room-temperature-3-essential-reads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/scientists-have-been-researching-superconductors-for-over-a-century-but-they-have-yet-to-find-one-that-works-at-room-temperature-3-essential-reads\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists have been researching superconductors for over a century, but they have yet to find one that works at room temperature \u2212 3 essential\u00a0reads"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n The search for the room-temperature superconductor continues.\n Charles O’Rear\/Corbis Documentary via Getty Images<\/a><\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n\nMary Magnuson<\/a>, The Conversation<\/a><\/em><\/span>\n\n

If you hadn\u2019t heard about superconductors before 2023, odds are you know what they are now. Researchers raised eyebrows early in the year with claims of operational room-temperature superconductors<\/a>, though none has been substantiated, and one paper<\/a> from researchers at the University of Rochester was retracted by the journal Nature<\/a> at the authors\u2019 request in November. <\/p>\n\n

But the hunt for a superconductor<\/a> \u2013 that is, a material that can conduct electricity without resistance \u2013 that can operate at room temperature is nothing new. <\/p>\n\n

Right now, superconductors can operate only at very cold temperatures. So, finding one that could work at room temperature without needing to be kept in a cold chamber could revolutionize everything from power grids<\/a> and medical equipment<\/a> to quantum computing<\/a>. But physicists first have to figure out how to make them work. <\/p>\n\n

A Dutch physicist discovered the phenomenon of superconductivity<\/a> in the early 20th century, and since then, labs around the world have tested materials that can reach a superconductive state at warmer and warmer temperatures<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n

So, how do these materials manage to conduct electricity without resistance, and what sorts of technological possibilities lie on the horizon, with superconductor research improving every year? Here are three stories from The Conversation\u2019s archive that explore the history, science and future of this incredible physical phenomenon. <\/p>\n\n

1. Physics behind the phenomenon<\/h2>\n\n

How is it even possible to generate a current with zero electrical resistance, the basis for superconductivity? In order to do so, you must keep your conducting metal cold<\/a>. Really cold. Like, hundreds of degrees below zero. <\/p>\n\n

\u201cAt normal temperatures, electrons move in somewhat erratic paths. They can generally succeed in moving through a wire freely, but every once in a while they collide with the nuclei of the material,\u201d wrote Mishkat Bhattacharya<\/a>, a physicist at<\/a> Rochester Institute of Technology. \u201cThese collisions are what obstruct the flow of electrons, cause resistance and heat up the material.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

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