Superconductivity         01/22/16

 

When electrical currents move through material, they encounter something known as electrical resistance which can be described as symmetric in nature to friction in mechanical systems. This resistance causes the current depresses the movement of electrons by converting some of their kinetic energy to heat. However, an interesting property emerges at certain conditions in certain materials known as superconductivity. A material that is superconductive exhibits no electrical resistance, so their electrical efficiency is at a maximum. An electrical current can propagate inexorably even with no power source, which could imply high efficiency systems a consequence. Concurrently, Superconductive materials have an interesting facet to them known as the Meissner effect, in which all magnetic fields are actively expelled from the superconductor. This can be applied to transit systems, which can greatly accelerate long distance travel. However, there is one issue to this effect that impinges on much of it’s pragmatism. The Despondent fact is that these materials only exhibit superconductivity at very low temperatures (near absolute zero), since resistance is proportional to temperature for a collection of materials, so due to the vast energy needed to bring an object to a superconductive state the time elapses is often ephemeral at best. Causally, the development of high temperature superconductivity is seen as a high priority, as then then mass production of superconductive systems can be spurred.

Negative thermal expansion 01/21/15
Some materials in this universe exhibit a very peculiar property known as Negative Thermal Expansion. Under ordinary circumstances, when heat is added to an object, volumetric expansion occurs causally. This phenomenon transpires due to the fact that temperature is simply the average measurement of the vibration of atoms, and when temperature is increased, the range of the vibrations increase proportionally due to the added energy. However, materials that exhibit Negative thermal expansion have the counterintuitive result of contracting. Materials with this property have a large domain of applications, ranging from engineering to dentistry.