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Europium's Superconductivity Demonstrated
gabrlknght writes "An old element just learned a new trick under pressure. When cooled and squeezed very hard, the soft metallic element europium turns into a superconductor, allowing electrons to flow unfettered by resistance, a study appearing May 13 in Physical Review Letters shows. The results make europium the 53rd of the 92 naturally occurring elements to possess superconductivity, which, if harnessed, could make for more efficient energy transfer."
The Carnegie Institution for Science published something like this exactly one year ago today.
Granted, it doesn't mention Europium, but the same principle applies.
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Only 53 of the 92 naturally occurring elements have super-conductivity, not all 92.
Real men read Slashdot articles at -1, bottom up.
>> We'll need billions of tons of the stuff to replace the present wiring infrastructure
Actually, no. To replace a 1cm thick copper cable you do NOT need a 1cm thick superconductor. I'm sure there's limits, but because there's no electrical resistance you can carry HUGE currents through tiny superconductors. We're talking several orders of magnitude difference here.
Anyone have a real numerical comparison handy?
MadCow
I used to have a sig, but I set it free and it never came back.
The metal americium becomes superconducting at temperatures as high as 0.79 K ...
Submitted on February 13, 1978
Superconductivity of Americium
This is not a high temperature superconductor. It only superconducts under 2 degrees K, when compressed to an extreme degree. It is of academic interest only.
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Surpsingly complicated, couldn't find any simple practical answers. Sorry. I did find some nifty pictures though.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
T-1000?!? Damn, we'd put a T-800 in there and now Skynet's gone and substituted our substitute!