EE0211

SUPER CONDUCTIVITY
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1 R.SRINIVAS 2 U.SRIKANTHGANESH

Abstract:
Superconductivity is the ability of certain materials to conduct electrical current with no
resistance and extremely low losses. This ability to carry large amounts of current can be applied
to electric power devices such as motors and generators, and to electricity transmission in power
lines.
superconductors conduct electricity without losing energy to electrical resistance. some materials
become superconductors when they are cooled to very low temperatures. superconductors exhibit
superconductivity at temperatures near 0 K (-273o C). High-temperature superconductors can
function at temperatures as high as 140 K (-133oC).the temperature at which the resistance of
material is zero is called as critical temperature.
Superconductors also repel surrounding magnetic fields. This phenomenon is demonstrated when
we levitate a magnet above a cooled superconductor.
Superconductors help us use energy more efficiently and reduce the cost of electricity production,
storage,

Keywords:

Superconductors, Mag-lev Devices, Power Transmission Cables.

Conclusion:
superconductivity research is to find materials that can become superconductors at
room temperature. Once this happens, the whole world of electronics, power and transportation will
be revolutionized

1.III Year EEE 2.III Year EEE

JBIET JBIET

remidicnu@yahoo.co.in

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 Superconductivity is the ability of certain materials to conduct electrical current with no
resistance and extremely low losses. This ability to carry large amounts of current can be applied
to electric power devices such as motors and generators, and to electricity transmission in power
lines.
superconductors conduct electricity without losing energy to electrical resistance. some materials
become superconductors when they are cooled to very low temperatures. superconductors exhibit
superconductivity at temperatures near 0 K (-273o C). High-temperature superconductors can
function at temperatures as high as 140 K (-133oC).the temperature at which the resistance of
material is zero is called as critical temperature.
Superconductors also repel surrounding magnetic fields. This phenomenon is demonstrated when
we levitate a magnet above a cooled superconductor.
Superconductors help us use energy more efficiently and reduce the cost of electricity production,
storage,transmission, and use, and the costs of transportation and medical equipment.

Some applications of super conductors

Power Transmission Cables
Mag-lev Devices
Materials Research
Telecommunications

Description:
When these materials are cooled to temperatures ranging from near absolute zero (0 K, -
273oC) to liquid nitrogen temperatures ( 77 K, -196oC), they have no electrical resistance these
are called as super conducting materials. The temperature at which electrical resistance is zero is
called the critical temperature (Tc) and varies with the individual material. For practical purposes,
critical temperatures are achieved by cooling materials with either liquid helium or liquid nitrogen

Critical temperatures of some materials

Material Type Tc(K)
Zinc metal 0.88
Aluminum metal 1.19
Tin metal 3.72
Mercury metal 4.15
Because these materials have no electrical resistance, meaning electrons can travel through them
freely, they can carry large amounts of electrical current for long periods of time without losing
energy as heat. Superconducting loops of wire have to carry electrical currents for several years
with no measurable loss.
In an electrical circuit a sample in series with a current source and measure the resulting voltage
across the sample. The resistance of the sample is given by ohm’slaw. If the voltage is zero, this
means that the resistance is zero and that the sample is in the superconducting state.
Superconductors are also able to maintain a current with no applied voltage. Experiments have
demonstrated that currents in superconducting coils can persist for years without any measurable
degradation. Experimental evidence points to a current lifetime of at least 100,000 years.
Meissner Effect:
Once the transition from the normal state to the superconducting state occurs, external magnetic
fields can't penetrate it. This effect is called the Meissner Effect.

The classic demonstration of the meissner effect. A superconductive diskon the bottom, cooled by
liquid nitrogen, causes the magnet above to levitate. The floating magnet induces a current, and
therefore a magnetic field, in the superconductor, and the two magnetic fields repel to levitate the
magnet.

Superconducting materials are devided in to two types:

Type I Superconductors – these are totally exclude all applied magnetic fields.
Eg: Al, Zn, Ga…
Type II Superconductors - which totally exclude low applied magnetic fields, but only partially
exclude high applied magnetic fields their diamagnetism is not perfect in the presence of high
fields. Eg: Zr, Nb….
How do electrons travel through superconductors with no resistance
The atomic structure of most metals is a lattice structure, much like a window screen in which the
intersection of each set of perpendicular wires is an atom. Metals hold on to their electrons quite
loosely, so these particles can move freely within the lattice -- this is why metals conduct heat and
electricity very well. As electrons move through a typical metal in the normal state, they collide with
atoms and lose energy in the form of heat. In a superconductor, the electrons travel in pairs and
move quickly between the atoms with less energy loss.
As a negatively charged electron moves through the space between two rows of positively charged
atoms it pulls inward on the atoms. This distortion attracts a second electron to move in behind it.
This second electron encounters less resistance, much like a passenger car following a truck on
the freeway encounters less air resistance. The two electrons form a weak attraction, travel
together in a pair and encounter less resistance overall. In a superconductor, electron pairs are
constantly forming, breaking and reforming, but the overall effect is that electrons flow with little or
no resistance. The low temperature makes it easier for the electrons to pair up.
One final property of superconductors is that when two of them are joined by a thin, insulating
layer, it is easier for the electron pairs to pass from one superconductor to another without
resistance.
Magnetic properties
The existence of the Meissner-Ochsenfeld effect, the exclusion of a magnetic field from the
interior of a superconductor, is direct evidence that the superconducting state is not simply one of
infinite electrical conductivity. Instead, it is a true thermodynamic equilibrium state, a new phase
which has lower free energy than the normal state at temperatures below the transition
temperature and which somehow requires the absence of magnetic flux.The exclusion of magnetic
flux by a superconductor costs some magnetic energy. So long as this cost is less than the
condensation energy gained by going from the normal to the superconducting phase, the
superconductor will remain completely superconducting in an applied magnetic field. If the applied
field becomes too large, the cost in magnetic energy will outweigh the gain in condensation energy,
and the superconductor will become partially or totally normal. The manner in which this occurs
depends on the geometry and the material of the superconductor. The geometry which produces
the simplest behavior is that of a very long cylinder with field applied parallel to its axis. Two distinct
types of behavior may then occur, depending on the type of superconductor—type I or type II.

Thermal properties
The appearance of the superconducting state is accompanied by rather drastic changes in
both the thermodynamic equilibrium and thermal transport properties of a superconductor.
The heat capacity of a superconducting material is quite different in the normal and
superconducting states. In the normal state (produced at temperatures below the transition
temperature by applying a magnetic field greater than the critical field), the heat capacity is
determined primarily by the normal electrons and is nearly proportional to the temperature. In zero
applied magnetic fields, there appears a discontinuity in the heat capacity at the transition
temperature. At temperatures just below the transition temperature, the heat capacity is larger than
in the normal state. It decreases more rapidly with decreasing temperature, however, and at
temperatures well below the transition temperature varies exponentially as e−Δ/kT, where Δ is a
constant and k is Boltzmann's constant. Such an exponential temperature dependence is a
hallmark of a system with a gap Δ in the spectrum of allowed energy states. Heat capacity
measurements provided the first indications of such a gap in superconductors, and one of the key
features of the macroscopic BCS theory is its prediction of just such a gap.
Ordinarily a large electrical conductivity is accompanied by a large thermal conductivity, as in the
case of copper, used in electrical wiring and cooking pans. However, the thermal conductivity of a
pure superconductor is less in the superconducting state than in the normal state, and at very low
temperatures approaches zero. Crudely speaking, the explanation for the association of infinite
electrical conductivity with vanishing thermal conductivity is that the transport of heat requires the
transport of disorder. The superconducting state is one of perfect order, and so there is no disorder
to transport and therefore no thermal conductivity.

Silicon becomes a superconductor by substituting 9% of the silicon atoms with boron

atoms, physicists in France have found that the resistance of the material drops sharply when
cooled below 0.35 K Boron is widely added to silicon to make it a useful semiconductor, but rarely
does it account for more than 0.002% of the total number of atoms. Because it has one fewer
electron than silicon available for bonding with neighbouring atoms, boron incorporated into silicon
leaves a positively-charged "hole" at each site where boron's "missing" electron would be paired
with one of silicon's. At room temperature these holes can move around, making boron-doped
silicon a "p-type" semiconductor, but at low temperatures, the holes remain bound in orbitals to the
boron nuclei. It has long been known that at boron concentrations of around 0.01% these low-
temperature orbitals overlap, making metal-like conductivity possible. However, until now all
attempts to make silicon superconducting have failed.
Plutonium is also a superconductor
Superconductivity has been observed in a plutonium-based material for the first time. discovered
that an alloy of plutonium, cobalt and gallium exhibits superconductivity at temperatures below 18.5
K. This is an unusually high transition temperature and may mean that plutonium-based
compounds are a new class of superconductor, in addition to the so-called heavy-fermion systems,
high-temperature copper oxides and traditional superconducting materials.
Bottom of Form
Applications
Power transmission cables that carry current without energy losses will increase the capacity of
the transmission system, saving money, space, and energy.

Due to the high cost and impracticality of cooling miles of superconducting wire to happened with
short "test runs". residents of Copenhagen, Denmark, began receiving their electricity through HTS
(high-temperature superconducting) material. That cable was only 30 meters long, but proved
adequate for testing purposes. In the 2001 Pirelli completed installation of three 400-foot HTS
cables for Detroit Edison at the Frisbie Substation capable of delivering 100 million watts of power.
This marked the first time commercial power has been delivered to customers of a US power utility
through superconducting wire. Installed an underground, HTS power cable in Albany, New York, in
Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation's power grid.
Electric generators made with superconducting wire are far more efficient than conventional
generators wound with copper wire. In fact, their efficiency is above 99% and their size about half
that of conventional generators. They may get more power from less fuel.
Electric motors made with superconducting wire will be smaller and more efficient.

The Yamanashi MLX01 MagLev train.

Transport vehicles such as trains can be made to "float" on strong superconducting magnets,
virtually eliminating friction between the train and its tracks. Not only would conventional
electromagnets waste much of the electrical energy as heat, they would have to be physically
much larger than superconducting magnets. A landmark for the commercial use of MAGLEV
technology occurred in 1990 when it gained the status of a nationally-funded project in Japan. The
Minister of Transport authorized construction of the Yamanashi Maglev Test Line which opened on
April 3, 1997. In December 2003, the MLX01 test vehicle attained an incredible speed of 361 mph
(581 kph).

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines enhance medical diagnostics by imaging

internal organs—often eliminating the need for invasive surgeries.
 MRI of a human skull.

By impinging a strong superconductor-derived magnetic field into the body, hydrogen atoms that
exist in the body's water and fat molecules are forced to accept energy from the magnetic field.
They then release this energy at a frequency that can be detected and displayed graphically by a
computer. MRIs, which currently are made with low-temperature superconductors, will be smaller
and less expensive when made with HTS.
In the electronics industry, ultra-high-performance filters are now being built. Since
superconducting wire has near zero resistance, even at high frequencies, many more filter stages
can be employed to achive a desired frequency response. This translates into an ability to pass
desired frequencies and block undesirable frequencies in high-congestion radio frequency
applications such as cellular telephone systems.

Military use of superconductors come with the deployment of "E-bombs". These are devices
that make use of strong, superconductor-derived magnetic fields to create a fast, high-intensity
electro-magnetic pulse (EMP) to disable an enemy's electronic equipment. Such a device saw its
first use in wartime in March 2003 when US Forces attacked an Iraqi broadcast facility.

the worldwide market for superconductor products is projected to grow to near US $5 billion by
the year 2010 and to US $38 billion by 2020. Low-temperature superconductors are expected to
continue to play a dominant role in well-established fields such as MRI and scientific research, with
high-temperature superconductors enabling the newer industries..

The future of superconductivity research is to find materials that can become superconductors at
room temperature. Once this happens, the whole world of electronics, power and transportation will
be revolutionized.