Topics Covered: Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life Achievements of Indians in science & technology; indigenization of technology and developing new technology.
First room-temperature superconductor:
Context:
What?
Scientists have reported the discovery of the first room-temperature superconductor, after more than a century of waiting.
How?
The superconductor was formed by squeezing carbon, hydrogen and sulfur between the tips of two diamonds and hitting the material with laser light to induce chemical reactions.
At a pressure about 2.6 million times that of Earth’s atmosphere, and temperatures below about 15° C, the electrical resistance vanished.
- However, the new material’s superconducting superpowers appear only at extremely high pressures, limiting its practical usefulness.
Why this discovery is significant?
All superconductors previously discovered had to be cooled, many of them to very low temperatures, making them impractical for most uses.
But, the recently discovered superconductor can operates at room temperature- the material is superconducting below temperatures of about 15° Celsius.
What are Superconductors?
Superconductors transmit electricity without resistance, allowing current to flow without any energy loss.
When superconductivity was discovered in 1911, it was found only at temperatures close to absolute zero (−273.15° C).
Potential applications:
If a room-temperature superconductor could be used at atmospheric pressure, it could save vast amounts of energy lost to resistance in the electrical grid.
And it could improve current technologies, from MRI machines to quantum computers to magnetically levitated trains. Dias envisions that humanity could become a “superconducting society.”
Sources: the Hindu.
