Super Conductivity

1
Super Conductivity
Brian Smith

• What Is Super Conductivity and How Can It Be of
  an Advantage to Society?

2
What Is a Super Conductor?

• A super conductor is an alloy or a compound that
  allows electricity to be transmitted with minimal
  losses.
• A higher current flow may occur with lower energy
  losses than common conductors.

3
Would Their Be Any Significant Benefit?

• Current systems for conductivity result in losses
  through out the power grid. Electricity losses
  through out the nation run at approximately 10.
• By using superconductors the power losses would
  be far less significant. If the super conductor
  were to be ideal then the losses would be
  insignificant.

4
To Whom Would These Benefits Be Significant?

• The benefits would be seen by the consumers and
  the producers.
• The producers could sell more of their product
  rather than waste it on power losses.
• The consumers wouldnt have to pay for the losses
  incurred by the power distributor, this may
  result in cheaper rates.

5
What Would Be the Disadvantages?

• The initial disadvantage would be attaining and
  maintaining the running temperature. This would
  by far be the largest hurdle to over come.
• Possibly the greatest disadvantage would be the
  initial cost of putting the super conductors in
  place.

6
What Would Be the Disadvantages?

• A large portion of the current infrastructure
  would need to be replaced and the cost for this
  would be quite high as power distribution in
  Australia is quite vast.
• Rural situations would be very expensive as the
  distances to cover are so great.

7
Disadvantages Continued.

• The price of a superconductor is much greater
  than that of a a regular conductor.
• The question lies with who would have to foot the
  bill for the change to the current system.
• One would suggest that the bill would be incurred
  by the power producer but would reflect in the
  power bills of the consumers.

8
Advancements in Superconductivity.

• A huge amount of research has gone into the
  development of super conductors.
• To the right we have a super conductivity test
  kit, super conducting magnetic shields and super
  conducting current leads.

9
Super Conductive Vs. Non-Super Conductive.

• This is a type 1 super conductor.
• The problem with this style of super conductor is
  that it needs to be used at extremely low
  temperatures to be super conductive.
• Examples of type 1 super conductors are carbon,
  lead, mercury and tin. There are many more.

10
Super Conductive Vs. Non-Super Conductive.

• This type of super conductor consists mainly of
  alloys and metallic compounds.
• They have higher critical temperatures than their
  type 1 counterparts.
• The assumed reason for the higher critical
  temperature is the planer layered crystalline
  structure demonstrated by the picture on the
  right.

11
Super Conductors and the Future.

• The top substance on the right is called
  fulleride and is found to be highly super
  conductive when doped with one or more alkali
  metals. This was designed by, Buckminster Fuller.
• The bottom example is that of a super conductor
  that conducts in single-walled carbon nanotubes
  at 15K. This was discovered by Chinese
  researchers in 2001.

12
Super Conductivity Facts

• Super conductivity was discovered approximately
  ninety years ago when Heike K. Onnes discovered
  that the resistance of a mercury rod dropped to
  zero when cooled to the boiling point of Helium
  and 4.2K

13
Facts Continued.

• Organic superconductors were discovered in 1986
  by IBM researchers Georg Bednorz and Alex Müller.
  What made this discovery so significant was the
  fact that the super conductor was super
  conducting at the high temperature of 30K. It was
  found that by increasing the pressure, the the
  super conductive temp could be raised, up to 50K

14
Facts Continued.

• Since the discovery of super conductors that can
  conduct at higher temperatures there has been
  much research.
• It would seem that the highest temperature
  reached for a super conductor is 125K from this
  mercury base super conducting material on the
  right.

15
Where to Now?

• It would seem that the presence of super
  conductors in domestic and large scale operations
  are still a little way off into the future.
• Until a means of either running the super
  conductor at room temperature is developed or a
  means of cooling the ones we have is developed to
  run efficiently, super conductors will remain in
  the laboratories and in specific situations.