Electrical Resistance and Conductance - Superconductivity

Superconductivity

Superconductors are materials that have exactly zero resistance and infinite conductance, because they can have V=0 and I≠0. This also means there is no joule heating, or in other words no dissipation of electrical energy. Therefore, if superconductive wire is made into a closed loop, current will keep flowing around the loop forever. Similarly, if a power line were made of a superconductor, there would be no transmission losses. Unfortunately, superconductors are almost never used for power lines, because they require cooling to temperatures near 4 K with liquid helium for most metallic superconductors like NbSn alloys, or cooling to temperatures near 77K with liquid nitrogen for the expensive, brittle and delicate ceramic high temperature superconductors. Nevertheless, there are many technological applications of superconductivity, including superconducting magnets.

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