Superconductivity will affect our everyday life in the 21st century. Superconductive applications include energy transfer and storage, magnetic levitation and transportation, electronic and entertainment equipments supplying new solutions that have not existed before.
The market of superconductive equipments in the upcoming decades will reach the order of hundred million Euros, savings in applications will result in ten billion Euros per year, according to forecasts.
Background
Zero resistivity
The electric resistance of superconductors, in contrast to other materials, drops to zero at a certain temperature, called the critical temperature. The termination of resistance is enabled by a novel interaction between atoms and electrons of the material.
 |
The resistance of platinum continuously decreases in low temperatures until it reaches residual resistance. In contrast to platinum, the resistance of mercury is abruptly terminated at 4.2 K. |
Measurements so far could not show any small resistance, so the resistance of superconductors technically is nil. It also means that in superconductors there is no loss due to electric current.
What applications can be employed by this phenomenon?
Magnetic levitation
The superconductor "remembers" outer, previously applied magnetic field due to complicated physical processes in the course of cooling. It means that it exerts force against any magnets or magnetic fields with no perception of the original magnetic field. Superconductors give way to the stable levitation of a magnet, which can never be achieved with two magnets.
Video...Levitated train or chess? It is not impossible any more!
Theoretical physics and its applications often baffle people who are
open to novelties. The interactive demonstrations in the exhibit help
us understand the basic phenomena of superconductivity and familiarize
with the future use of this technology in our everyday lives.