Superconductivity is a phenomenon occurring in certain materials at extremely low temperatures, characterized by exactly zero electrical resistance and the exclusion of the interior magnetic field (the Meissner effect). The electrical resistivity of a metallic conductor decreases gradually as the temperature is lowered. However, in ordinary conductors such as copper and silver, impurities and other defects impose a lower limit. Even near absolute zero a real sample of copper shows a non-zero resistance. The resistance of a superconductor, on the other hand, drops abruptly to zero when the material is cooled below its 'critical temperature', typically 20 kelvin or less. An electrical current flowing in a loop of superconducting wire can persist indefinitely with no power source. Like ferromagnetism and atomic spectral lines, superconductivity is a quantum mechanical phenomenon. It cannot be understood simply as the idealisation of 'perfect conductivity' in classical physics. Superconductivity occurs in a wide variety of materials, including simple elements like tin and aluminium, various metallic alloys and some heavily-doped semiconductors. Superconductivity does not occur in noble metals like gold and silver, nor in most ferromagnetic metals. In 1986 the discovery of a family of cuprate-perovskite ceramic materials known as high-temperature superconductors, with critical temperatures in excess of 90 kelvin, spurred renewed interest and research in superconductivity for several reasons. As a topic of pure research, these materials represented a new phenomenon not explained by the current theory. And, because the superconducting state persists up to more manageable temperatures, more commercial applications are feasible, especially if materials with even higher critical temperatures could be discovered. This new book presents leading research from around the world in this dynamic field.
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3.0 out of 5 stars
Wikipedia,
By spiel496 "spiel496" (Oakland, CA United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Superconductivity Research Developments (Hardcover)
I can't speak to the quality of the editing throughout the book, but I found the Preface somewhat alarming. The first three paragraphs of the Preface were lifted verbatim from Wikipedia's article on superconductivity. No citation is given. (The content first appeared in Wikipedia on 18 Aug 2006, which predates the publishing of this book by over one year.) Hopefully the editing improves on later pages.
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