Quantum Wires

Silverlancer writes "Room temperature superconductors have often been a hallmark of far-future science fiction. But fortunately for us, they're here today, according to MIT's Technology Review. Richard Smalley, winner of the 1996 Nobel Prize for the discovery of the buckyball, is currently heading a project to produce a prototype carbon nanotube superconductor. They've already produced some wires up to 100 meters long--the only thing left to do is figure out how to produce only a certain type of nanotube, the "5,5 armchair nanotube," that conducts so well that it can be considered a superconductor."

Comments

Dr. Smalley talks to the senate

[Flywheels of Fire]

Interestingly,Dr. Smalley talked about armchair nanotube technology at the senate Oversight hearing on sustainable, low emission, electricity generation Full Committee Hearing almost one year ago. The full text is here.

Re:Armchair...

[mikael]

And just in case anyone wants to know what exactly, a 5,5 armchair nanotube looks like, there are some images of models here.

superconductor != 0 resistance

[joostje]

conducts so well that it can be considered a superconductor

The most essential thing about a superconductor isn't the zero resistance, but the meissner effect. So if they manage to create wires with near-zero resistance, they will not have created `near-superconductors'.

For energy transportation and storage it doesn't matter all that much, cause zero resistance (even without superconductivity) would make energy transportation and storage better

Re:Dubious Logic

[nrlightfoot]

Actually, it's called a ballistic conductor. There is a small resistance when electrons pass through the ends of the nanotube, and while it is traveling along the rest of the tube there is no resistance.

Re:really a superconductor?

[triplepoint217]

Carbon nanotubes are not superconductors. In an ideal (the kind they are trying to build), they have a resistance that is independent of length, however it is not zero like in actual superconductors. The resistance of an individual nanotube is about 20 kOhms, but because they are so small an array of a large number of them in parallel can have a small resistance, and still not be very large. Because the restance does not increase for longer tubes, they are similar to a superconductor, and would be useful for transmitting power over long distances. However, the physics behind the conduction is different.