SUPERCONDUCTIVITY is the ability of certain materials to conduct electric current with no resistance and extremely low losses. This ability to carry large amounts of currents can be applied to electric power devices such as motors and generators and to electricity transmission in power lines. For example, superconductors can carry as much as 100 times the electricity ordinary copper or aluminium wires of same size.Scientists had been intrigued with the concept of superconductivity since its discovery in the early 1900’s, but the extreme low temperature the phenomenon required was a barrier to practical and low cost application. This all changed in 1986 when a new class of ceramic super conductors were discovered that ‘SUPERCONDUCTED’ at higher temperatures. The science of high temperature superconductivity (HTS) was born, and Along with it came the prospect for an elegant technology that promises to ‘supercharge’ the way energy is generated, delivered and used. At the heart of high temperature superconductivity lies a promise for the near future. A promise for transmitting and using electricity with near perfect efficiency and much higher capacity, besides all this it also has a wide range of application like MRI scanning, maglev trains etc. This seminar shall discuss on the concepts of superconductivity, its classifications, its various properties and its applications.
‘We have completed the first electrical century ushered in by Thomas Edison . We are now entering a second electrical century, ushered in by High Temperature Superconductivity.’