Normal conductors have resistance due to atoms blocking or absorbing electrons. Superconductors have virtually no resistance when frozen near absolute zero, but finding a material that becomes superconducting at room temperature is the challenge.
To understand how a superconductor works, it can be helpful to first examine how a normal conductor works. Some materials like water and metal allow electrons to flow through them quite easily, like water through a garden hose. Other materials, such as wood and plastic, don’t allow electrons to pass through, so they are considered non-conductors. Trying to run electricity through them would be like trying to run water through a brick.
Even among materials considered to be conductive, there can be large differences in the amount of electricity that can actually pass. In electrical terms, this is called resistance. Almost all normal conductors of electricity have some resistance because they have atoms of their own, which block or absorb electrons as they pass through wire, water, or other material. A little resistance can be helpful in keeping electrical flow in check, but it can also be inefficient and wasteful.
A superconductor takes the idea of resistance and turns it upside down. A superconductor is generally composed of synthetic materials or metals such as lead or niobiotitanium that already have a low number of atoms. When these materials are frozen near absolute zero, the atoms they have shrink almost to a halt. Without all of this atomic activity, electricity can flow through the material with virtually no resistance. In practical terms, a computer processor or electric train track equipped with a superconductor would use very little electricity to perform its functions.
The most obvious problem with a superconductor is temperature. There are few practical ways to supercool large quantities of superconducting material to the required transition point. Once a superconductor begins to heat up, the original atomic energy is restored and the material creates resistance again. The trick to making a practical superconductor is to find a material that becomes superconducting at room temperature. So far, researchers have not discovered any metal or composite material that loses all of its electrical resistance at high temperatures.
To illustrate this problem, imagine a standard copper wire as a river of water. A bunch of electrons are in a boat trying to get to their destination upstream. The force of the water flowing downstream creates resistance, which forces the boat to work even harder to cross the entire river. By the time the boat reaches its destination, many of the electronic passengers are too weak to continue. This is what happens with a normal conductor: natural resistance causes a loss of power.
Now imagine if the river was completely frozen over and the electrons were in a sled. Since there would be no water flowing downstream, there would be no resistance. The sled would simply roll over the ice and safely deposit nearly all of the passenger electrons upstream. The electrons have not changed, but the river has been altered by temperature so as not to offer resistance. Finding a way to freeze the river at a normal temperature is the ultimate goal of superconducting research.
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