Superconductivity

Spiikeee · 27-02-2011 02:22AM #1

So I've been looking into superconductivity and trying to understand exactly what causes the material to have zero electrical resistance,

The explanations I have seen talk about electrons travelling through the material in pairs through some kind of 'weak attraction,' the second electron experiences less resistance and that this means that energy loss is lower overall.

I'm not sure if I'm looking at this the wrong way or if I have missed something all together, either way I would be appreciate if someone would give a stab at helping me

Improbable · 05-03-2011 03:42AM

In a conventional superconductor, the electronic fluid cannot be resolved into individual electrons. Instead, it consists of bound pairs of electrons known as Cooper pairs. This pairing is caused by an attractive force between electrons from the exchange of phonons. Due to quantum mechanics, the energy spectrum of this Cooper pair fluid possesses an energy gap, meaning there is a minimum amount of energy ΔE that must be supplied in order to excite the fluid. Therefore, if ΔE is larger than the thermal energy of the lattice, given by kT, where k is Boltzmann's constant and T is the temperature, the fluid will not be scattered by the lattice. The Cooper pair fluid is thus a superfluid, meaning it can flow without energy dissipation.

Source: Wikipedia

Superconductivity

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