What is the critical temperature for a superconducting material?

The critical temperature (Tc), or the temperature under which a material acts as a superconductor, is an essential concern. For most materials, it is between absolute zero and 10 Kelvin, that is, between -273 Celsius and -263 Celsius, too cold to be of any practical use.

What materials can become superconductors?

Superconductor material classes include chemical elements (e.g. mercury or lead), alloys (such as niobium–titanium, germanium–niobium, and niobium nitride), ceramics (YBCO and magnesium diboride), superconducting pnictides (like fluorine-doped LaOFeAs) or organic superconductors (fullerenes and carbon nanotubes; though …

What conditions are needed for superconductivity or what are the properties of a superconductor?

Summary

• A superconductor is characterized by two features: the conduction of electrons with zero electrical resistance and the repelling of magnetic field lines.
• A minimum temperature is required for superconductivity to occur.
• A strong magnetic field destroys superconductivity.

What is the highest critical temperature?

Critical temperatures (the maximum temperature at which a gas can be liquefied by pressure) range from 5.2 K, for helium, to temperatures too high to measure. Critical pressures (the vapour pressure at the critical temperature) are generally about 40–100 bars.

What was the first high-temperature superconductor?

Alex Müller, playing with a class of materials overlooked by other scientists, discovered a copper oxide compound able to superconduct at -238° C. While still pretty chilly, that’s far warmer than liquid helium temperatures. So it became known as the first “high-temperature superconductor” ever discovered.

Which of following has highest critical temperature?

Water vapours i.e., H2O(g) molecules can be liquefied most easily due to presence of intermolecular hydrogen bonding. Therefore, they have maximum critical temperature .

What are high-temperature superconductors used for?

The most important large scale applications of superconductivity are in: power transmission lines, energy storage devices, fault current limiters, fabrication of electric generators and motors, MAGLEV vehicles, in medicine (see Section 6) and applications in particle accelerators.

What has to happen to the conduction electrons in a material in order for them to become superconducting?

Artwork: Superconductivity happens when electrons work together in Cooper pairs. Called the BCS theory in honor of its three discovers, it explains that materials suddenly become “superb conductors” when the electrons inside them join forces to make what are called Cooper pairs (or BCS pairs).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1j7bMsFogJE