Florida A&M University

School of Architecture and Engineering Technology

Electronic Engineering Technology
EET 4165 ELECTRONICS DESGIN I
Fall 2015
Instructor: Dr. Chao Li

SUPERCONDUCTIVITY: THE ZERO RESISTANCE PHENOMENONA

Written By:
Rashad Erwin-Ingram

Electricity is the result of an atomic phenomenon that is constantly occurring to

help energize many, if not all, of the electronic devices we use daily. Lets say that we
have two copper atoms both separated by a distance of one meter. Each has twenty-nine
protons and electrons. In the outer orbital of each atom, there lies one valence electron.
The valence electrons are the electrons on an atom that can be gained or lost in a
chemical reaction (Bodner). Now, lets say a chemical reaction takes place causing the
valence electron to break its bond with the rest of the atom. The separation of an electron
from its parent atom is the beginning process of this event. Once the electron is free it
becomes a free electron. This free electron has a net negative charge, so it is considered
to be a negatively charged particle. Since the atoms protons remain in the nucleus of the
atom, the remaining atom is then considered to be a positively charged particle. The free
electron is then attracted to the next copper atom and begins to flow on a clear path
towards its nucleus. This motion from one atom to the next by this free electron is what
we know as electricity.
Any electrical device that we use requires some amount of electricity. For
example, our homes use electricity to power our air conditioning unit, lights, appliances,
laptops, cell phones, and many other devices we use. Imagine a world without
electricity; technology, as we know it, would not exist. At one point in time, this was the
case. However, many advancements in this area of study have made it conveniently
possible to harness such energy safely and efficiently. Unfortunately, we have yet to
reach the full potential of the use of electricity.
Recall that electricity is the flow of free electrons from one atom to another. There
is an advanced topic in the study of electricity that could truly revolutionize the world
(Templeton). This topic is known as superconductivity. According to
superconductors.org, a superconductor is an element, inter-metallic alloy, or compound
that will conduct electricity without resistance below a certain temperature (Eck). In
simple terms, this means that superconductivity occurs when a superconducting material
allows a perfect flow of current without any resistance in its path. In modern research
and technology, this only happens at very low temperatures, which are known as the
critical temperature, TC.

The first person to observe superconductivity was Dutch physicist, Heike

Kamerlingh Onnes in 1911.
Onnes worked at Leiden University, in the
Netherlands, when he first observed the
phenomena. He attempted to cool mercury
down to the temperature of liquid helium, which
is four degrees Kelvin. The results that he found
were very interesting; the resistance in the
mercury had disappeared! This was the
beginning of a new frontier of research.
In 1933, two German researchers by the names of, Walther Meissner and Robert
Ochsenfeld made yet another groundbreaking discovery in the study of
superconductivity. They discovered that a superconducting material would repel an
induced magnetic field. This was a very significant discovery because up until that point
in time, it was thought that a
magnetic that came in contact with
a conductor would only induce a
current in the conductor. However,
this was no longer the case. It had
become possible for a conductor to
expel the magnetic field resulting
levitation. Due to the face that
the induced currents in the superconductor caused by the magnets, mirror the magnetic
field that would normally penetrate it, the superconductor becomes a strong
diamagnetism. Today this is known as the Meissner Effect.
The Meissner effect was a land-marking discovery, however, there were still
many questions about the theory behind superconductivity. However, the lack in
knowledge about superconductivity only stimulated the more and more research. In the
next few decades many other superconducting metals, alloys, and compounds were

discovered. In 1941, niobium-nitride was found to super conduct at 16 K (Eck). Some

of the other discoveries included: vanadium-silicon and titanium. This led to production
of the first commercial superconducting wire.
In 1957, the first widely accepted theoretical understanding of superconductivity
was advanced. American physicists John Bardeen, Leon Cooper, and John Schrieffer
were each credited for these new theories, which mathematically explained
superconductivity at near absolute zero temperatures. Their ideas became known as the
BCS theory, which was an acronym for their last names. Though very complex in detail,
the theory was somewhat simple and made a lot of sense. So, as electrons passed through
a crystal lattice, the lattice deformed inward towards the electrons generating sound
packets known as "phonons". These phonons produced a trough of positive charge in the
area of deformation that assisted subsequent electrons in passing through the same region
in a process known as phonon-mediated coupling. This was similar to rolling a bowling
ball up the middle of a bed with two people, one lying on each side of the bed, will tend
to roll toward the center of the bed, once the ball has created a depression in the mattress.
And, a 2nd bowling ball, placed at the foot of the bed, would then, roll toward the middle.
This was a major advancement in the research of superconductivity and man of those
ideas and theories still hold up amongst many scientist, researchers, and engineers.
In 1962 Brian D. Josephson made yet another remarkable contribution to the
superconductivity research. He predicted that electrical current would flow between 2
superconducting materials (Eck). This was true even when a non-superconductor or
insulator separated the two superconductors. This new discovery was later known as the
Josephson effect. Josephson won a Noble Prize in Physics in 1973.
In 1964, Bill Little of Stanford University had a new suggestion. He proposed the
idea of organic superconductors. These type of superconductors were first successfully
synthesized in 1980 by Klaus Bechgaard, a Danish researcher. He accomplished this
with three French team members. Through experimentation, they were introduced to the
possibility of engineering molecules to perform in a predictable way.

In 1986, Alex Muller and Goerg Bednorz, both researchers from IBM, created a
ceramic compound that superconducted at 30 K. This was the highest temperature at the
time. This was a unique discovery because ceramic was normally an insulator. This
would open even more doors for research in superconductivity because they also
discovered that small amounts of cuprates were superconducting at 58 K.
These research and discoveries led to many of the applications that are being used
or will be today. There has been manufacturing of commercial superconducting wire.
Transportation is advancing tremendously because of the Meissner effect.

SOURCE CITATIONS
Bentor, Yinon. Chemical Element.com - Copper. Nov. 29, 2015
<http://www.chemicalelements.com/elements/cu.html>.
Bodner. "The Covalent Bond. Purdue University, 2004. Web. 24
Nov.2015.
<http://chemed.chem.purdue.edu/genchem/topicreview/bp/ch8/
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Eck, Joe. "Superconductors." Superconductors. Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH
& Co., 2003.
Web. 24 Nov. 2015.
N.P. "BCS Theory." Hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu.
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Nov. 2015.
Rossi, Lucio. "The Subtle Side of Superconductivity." - CERN Courier.
CERN by IOP
Publishing, 24 Aug. 2010. Web. 3 Dec. 2015.
Templeton, Graham. "What Is Superconductivity, and When Will We All
Get Maglev
Trains and Unlimited Electrical Power? | ExtremeTech."
ExtremeTech. Ziff Davis, LLC, 23 June 2015. Web. 24 Nov. 2015.
"Walther Meissner - MagLab." Walther Meissner - MagLab. The Center
for
Integrating Research Learning at the National High Magnetic
Field Laboratory., 2012. Web. 24 Nov. 2015.