NATS 1945 Chapter Notes - Chapter 6: Electric Power Transmission, Thermal Insulation

• School: York University
• Department: Natural Science
• Course: NATS 1945
• Professor: Robin Metcalfe

Document Summary

Superconductors: a substance with zero resistance and therefore zero energy loss to heat. Only possible at temperatures far below 0oc. There are some material that, under certain conditions, can have zero resistance, for a reason that comes from quantum physics. Under certain conditions electrons are able to blow right past the atoms in the substance without being impeded by them, and we call those spe(cid:272)ial (cid:373)aterials super(cid:272)o(cid:374)du(cid:272)tors. S(cid:272) are i(cid:374)(cid:272)redi(cid:271)ly useful (cid:271)e(cid:272)ause if e"s (cid:272)a(cid:374) pass through them completely unimpeded it means that they lose 0 energy while flowing through the conductor, and can therefore travel through forever. If powerlines were sc ele(cid:272)tri(cid:272)ity (cid:449)ould (cid:271)e a lot (cid:272)heaper tha(cid:374) it is (cid:271)e(cid:272)ause ele(cid:272)tro(cid:374)s (cid:449)ould(cid:374)"t lose so (cid:373)u(cid:272)h of their heat travelling from power plant to out homes. Nine hair-thin superconductor wires carry the same power as all the copper on the left.