Praxis Business School

A PROJECT

On

ROOM TEMPERATURE SUPERCONDUCTORS

Submitted to

DR. Prithwis Mukherjee

In Partial fulfillment of the course
BUSINESS INFORMATION SYSTEMS
On 07/11/2010
By
Subhodeep Kumar Dey (B10033)
ROOM TEMPERATURE SUPERCONDUCTORS

SUBHODEEP KUMAR DEY

 PREFACE

Inspite of the fact that it is Natures “oversight”,

superconductivity is a remarkable phenomenon. Personally, I
am fascinated by it. Superconductivity indeed was a major
scientific mystery for a large part of the last century.
The purpose of this book is to show how room temperature
superconductors is capable of unravelling the future
technological marvels. This book covers what are
superconductors, its different types, the research work that has
been undergone, the motive behind the idea of introducing
room temperature superconductors, the challenges that are
there and the future potential of the idea which is capable of
initiating a Second World War
It can be rightly inferred that the room temperature
superconductors are the “Holy Grail” of Modern Science.
 CONTENTS
Chapter 1: Abstract and introduction to room temperature super
conductors.

Chapter 2: Research work by the pioneers in this field and the progress
made.

Chapter 3: Research which could lead to a better superconductor or

something that can solve

the mysteries unfolded.

Chapter 4: Motive behind the idea, the challenges faced and the future

potential of the idea

Chapter 5: Polypropylene- a long way to go!

Chapter 6: Conclusion. .
CHAPTER 1

ABSTRACT

Superconductivity is an electrical resistance of exactly zero which occurs in certain materials below a
characteristic temperature. Gradually as the temperature is lowered the electrical resistivity of a
metallic conductor decreases. However, this decrease in ordinary conductors such as copper and
silver, present some resistance to the flow of electric current, causing some of the energy to be
dissipated as light and heat. A real sample of copper shows some resistance even near absolute
zero. Despite these imperfections, in a superconductor the resistance drops abruptly to zero when the
material is cooled below its critical temperature. By reducing losses superconductors can make
energy production more efficient and computers can be made smaller and more powerful.
Superconductors have ample number of advantages in its pipeline which is yet to be explored.

INTRODUCTION

Before 1985, scientists wanted to produce materials that could superconduct at the temperature of
liquid nitrogen (minus 321 F) which was cheaper than liquid helium and more practical for commercial
applications. Working with niobium alloys, scientists could not get anywhere near the temperature of
liquid nitrogen,

However, in 1986, IBM scientists Georg Bednorz and Alex Muller broke the temperature barrier with a
new class of superconducting materials called layered copper oxide perovskites. For this discovery
Bednorz and Muller shared the Nobel Prize. The materials the IBM scientists used were ceramic
metals. Ceramics previously had been thought to be insulators, or at best poor conductors. Since then
ceramics have been and are being explored thoroughly.

Superconductivity has been observed in several metals and ceramic materials. When these materials
are cooled to temperatures ranging from near absolute zero (-459 degrees Fahrenheit, 0 degrees
Kelvin, -273 degrees Celsius) to liquid nitrogen temperatures (-321 F, 77 K, -196 C), they have no
electrical resistance. The temperature at which electrical resistance is zero is called the critical
temperature (Tc) and varies with the individual material. . For practical purposes, critical temperatures
are achieved by cooling materials with either liquid helium or liquid nitrogen. The following table
shows the critical temperatures of various superconductors:

Material Type Tc (K)

Zinc Metal 0.88
Aluminum Metal 1.19
Tin Metal 3.72
Mercury Metal 4.15
Yttrium barium copper oxide Ceramic 90

Highest Tc we have today is 135K in Hg1223 (HgBa2Ca2Cu3Ox).

As these materials have no electrical resistance, it can be inferred electrons can travel through them
freely, they can carry large amounts of electrical current for long periods of time without losing energy
as heat. Superconducting loops of wire have been shown to carry electrical currents for several years
with no measurable loss. This property has implications for electrical power transmission, if
transmission lines can be made of superconducting ceramics, and for electrical-storage devices.

A property of a superconductor is that once the transition from the normal state to the
superconducting state occurs, external magnetic fields can't penetrate it. This effect is called the
Meissner effect and has implications for making high speed, magnetically-levitated trains. It also has
implications for making powerful, small, superconducting magnets for magnetic resonance imaging
(MRI).

Another property of superconductors is that when two of them are joined by a thin, insulating layer, it
is easier for the electron pairs to pass from one superconductor to another without resistance (dc
Josephson effect). This effect has implications for superfast electrical switches that can be used to
make small, high-speed computers. .

Figure showing the Meissner effect

How do electrons travel through superconductors with no resistance? Let us have a look at this more
closely.

The atomic structure of most metals is a lattice structure, much like a window screen in which the
intersection of each set of perpendicular wires is an atom. Metals hold on to their electrons quite
loosely, so these particles can move freely within the lattice -- this is why metals conduct heat and
electricity very well. As electrons move through a typical metal in the normal state, they collide with
atoms and lose energy in the form of heat. In a superconductor, the electrons travel in pairs and move
quickly between the atoms with less energy loss.

As a negatively-charged electron moves through the space between two rows of positively-charged
atoms (like the wires in a window screen), it pulls inward on the atoms. This distortion attracts a
second electron to move in behind it. This second electron encounters less resistance, much like a
passenger car following a truck on the freeway encounters less air resistance. The two electrons form
a weak attraction, travel together in a pair and encounter less resistance overall. The low temperature
facilitates the pairing up of the electrons.

In a superconductor, electron pairs are constantly forming, breaking and reforming, but the overall
effect is that electrons flow with little or no resistance.

Types of superconductors

There are basically two types of superconductors. One is the low temperature superconductors and
the other is the high temperature superconductors. High temperature superconductors are materials
that have a superconducting transition temperature (Tc) above 30 K. From 1960 to 1980 30 K was
thought to be the highest theoretically possible Tc. Low temperature superconductors are materials
that have a superconducting transition temperature of just 4 K above absolute zero. They have to be
cooled to this temperature with liquid helium. The high cost and complexity of liquid helium
refrigeration systems tended to confine these low temperature superconductors to a well controlled
laboratory environment.

CHAPTER 2

RESEARCH WORK BY THE PIONEERS IN THIS FIELD AND THE PROGRESS MADE:

“It has been predicted that the development of the room temperature superconductor will initiate a
second industrial revolution. It will unravel the technological marvels and change the world we are
living in. To make it a success there has been number of research work going on around the globe.
Here are some of the few.”

RESEARCH BY SCIENTISTS AT UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE:

Scientists at the University of Cambridge have identified a key component to unfold the mystery of
room temperature superconductivity.

The possibility of room temperature super conductors was seen almost two decades ago, since then
the quest for room temperature super conductors has gripped the physics researchers. Unfortunately,
scientists have been unable to decipher how copper oxide materials superconduct at extremely cold
temperatures (such as that of liquid nitrogen), much less design materials that can superconduct at
higher temperatures.

Materials that are known to superconduct at the highest temperatures are, unexpectedly, ceramic
insulators that behave as magnets before 'doping' (the method of introducing impurities to a
semiconductor to modify its electrical properties). Upon doping charge carriers (holes or electrons)
into these parent magnetic insulators, they mysteriously begin to superconduct, i.e. the doped carriers
form pairs that carry electricity without loss.

The dilemma facing researchers in this area has been as to how does a magnet that cannot transport
electricity transform into a superconductor that is a perfect conductor of electricity? The Cambridge
team have made a significant advance in answering this question.
The researchers have discovered where the charge 'hole' carriers that play a significant role in the
superconductivity originate within the electronic structure of copper-oxide superconductors. These
findings are particularly important for the next step of deciphering the glue that binds the holes
together and determining what enables them to superconduct.

Dr Suchitra E. Sebastian, lead author of the study, commented, “An experimental difficulty in the past
has been accessing the underlying microscopics of the system once it begins to superconduct.
Superconductivity throws a manner of 'veil' over the system, hiding its inner workings from
experimental probes. A major advance has been our use of high magnetic fields, which punch holes
through the superconducting shroud, known as vortices - regions where superconductivity is
destroyed, through which the underlying electronic structure can be probed”.

“We have successfully unearthed for the first time in a high temperature superconductor the location
in the electronic structure where 'pockets' of doped hole carriers aggregate. Our experiments have
thus made an important advance toward understanding how superconducting pairs form out of these
hole pockets.”

By determining exactly where the doped holes aggregate in the electronic structure of these
superconductors, the researchers have been able to advance clarify two vital areas:

(1) A direct probe revealing the location and size of pockets of holes is an essential step of
determining how these particles stick together to superconduct.

(2) Their experiments have successfully accessed the region between magnetism and
superconductivity: when the superconducting veil is partially lifted, their experiments suggest the
existence of underlying magnetism which shapes the hole pockets. Interplay between magnetism and
superconductivity is therefore indicated - leading to the next question to be addressed.

Do these forms of order compete, with magnetism appearing in the vortex regions where
superconductivity is killed, as they suggest? Or do they complement each other by some more
intricate mechanism? One possibility they suggest for the coexistence of two very different physical
phenomena is that the non-superconducting vortex cores may behave in concert, exhibiting collective
magnetism while the rest of the material superconduct.

RESEARCH BY SCIENTISTS OF UNIVERSITY OF LONDON AND FIBOURG

Scientists from Queen Mary, University of London and the University of Fribourg (Switzerland) have
found evidence that magnetism is involved in the mechanism behind high temperature
superconductivity. Investigation was done on a new high temperature superconductor called
oxypnictides. They found that these exhibit some striking similarities with the previously known
copper-oxide high temperature superconductors - in both cases superconductivity emerges from a
magnetic state. Their results go some way to explaining the mechanisms behind high temperature
superconductors

Superconductors are materials that can conduct electricity with no resistance, but only at low
temperatures. High temperature superconductors were first discovered in 1986 in copper-oxides,
which increased the operational temperature of superconductors by more than 100°C, to -130°C and
opened up a wealth of applications. The complex fundamental physics behind these high temperature
superconductors has, however, remained a mystery to scientists.

Dr Drew said "Last year, a new class of high-temperature superconductor was discovered that has a
completely different make-up to the ones previously known - containing layers of Arsenic and Iron
instead of layers of Copper and Oxygen. Our hope is that by studying them both together, we may be
able to resolve the underlying physics behind both types of superconductor and design new
superconducting materials, which may eventually lead to even higher temperature superconductors."
Professor Bernhard, of the University of Fribourg, said: "Despite the mysteries of high-temperature
superconductivity, their applications are wide-ranging. One exciting applications is using
superconducting wire to provide lossless power transmission from power stations to cities.
Superconducting wire can hold a much higher current density than existing copper wire and is
lossless and therefore energy saving."

An electrical current flowing round a loop of superconducting wire can also continue indefinitely,
producing some of the most powerful electromagnets known to man. These magnets are used in MRI
scanners, to 'float' the MagLev train, and to steer the proton beam of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC)
at CERN. Envisaged future applications of superconductors exist also in ultrafast electronic devices
and in quantum computing.

2D FLUCTUATING SUPERCONDUCTIVITY IN A HIGH TEMPERATURE SUPERCONDUCTOR

Scientists at Brookhaven Lab have discovered a state of two-dimensional (2D) fluctuating

superconductivity in a high-temperature superconductor with a particular arrangement of electrical
charges known as "stripes."The finding was uncovered during studies of directional dependence in
the material's electron-transport and magnetic properties. In the 2D plane, the material acts as a
superconductor - conducts electricity with no resistance - at a significantly higher temperature than in
the 3D state.

"The results provide many insights into the interplay between the stripe order and superconductivity,
which may shed light on the mechanism underlying high-temperature superconductivity," said
Brookhaven physicist Qiang Li.

A superconductor like the one

shown here conducts electricity
with no resistance

Credit: Image courtesy of DOE/Brookhaven National Laboratory

Understanding the mechanism of high-temperature superconductivity is one of the outstanding

scientific issues in condensed matter physics. Understanding this mechanism could lead to new
strategies for increasing the superconducting transition temperature of other superconductors to make
them more practical for applications such as electrical transmission lines. Superconductors can meet
the challenge faced by the national electricity grid to provide reliable power when the demand for
electricity will rise.
A STEP IN THE MARCH TOWARDS BETTER SUPERCONDUCTORS

At a seminal meeting in 1987, physicists shocked the scientific community when they reported that
certain ceramics can conduct electricity with no resistance at low temperatures. Since then, scientists
have been dreaming of trains that levitate on magnetic fields, practical electric cars, hyper-efficient
power lines and the other technological marvels that would be made possible by a material that could
similarly “superconduct” electricity, but at room temperature.

Near the 20-year anniversary of that scientific symposium, called “the Woodstock of physics” in
contemporary media accounts, a Brigham Young University researcher is part of a team that has
taken science one step closer to this “holy grail.” Branton Campbell, assistant professor of physics, in
collaboration with the University of Tennessee's Pengcheng Daiand others, has published a paper in
the high-profile journal Nature Materials that explains the behavior of an important class of
superconducting ceramics.

The team took tiny samples of ceramic crystals to what Campbell calls the most powerful X-ray
machine in the world, a billion-dollar facility located at Argonne National Laboratory near Chicago,
where he was once a postdoctoral researcher. There they shined a needle-thin X-ray beam onto the
crystals and mapped out the pattern of scattered X-rays to determine the location and type of each
atom in the crystal structure. They also used a similar technique called neutron powder diffraction.

There are two principal types of copper-oxide ceramics that usually don’t even conduct electricity at
room temperature, but become superconductors at low temperature. One type behaves quite
differently from the other, which had scientists wondering if two separate physical mechanisms might
be at work. It was a long-standing mystery why so-called “electron-doped” ceramics cannot
superconduct until after they have been subjected to special high-temperature chemical treatments.
Mr. Campbell’s team showed that the treatments repair previously unreported atomic-scale defects in
the material. Further, once the defects are repaired, the basic features of the two types of materials
are very similar after all, suggesting that one theory is enough to explain the mechanism of ceramic
superconductivity.

CHAPTER 3

RESEARCHES WHICH COULD LEAD TO A BETTER SUPERCONDUCTOR OR SOMETHING

THAT CAN SOLVE THE MYSTERIES UNFOLDED

CONTROLLING STRUCTURES ON NANOSCALE

Superconductors, materials in which current flows without resistance, have tantalizing applications.
But even the highest-temperature superconductors require extreme cooling before the effect kicks in,
so researchers want to know when and how superconductivity comes about in order to coax it into
existence at room temperature. Now a team has shown that, in a copper-based superconductor, tiny
areas of weak superconductivity hold up at higher temperatures when surrounded by regions of
strong superconductivity. The experiment is reported in current issue of Physical Review Letters and
highlighted with a viewpoint in Physics by Jenny Hoffman of Harvard University. Researchers have
long known that both superconducting and normal currents can leak back and forth between adjacent
layers of superconducting material and metal. In copper-based ceramic superconductors, made up of
many different elements, superconductivity varies within nanometres depending on which atoms are
nearby. These tiny regions can influence each other in much the same way that thin layers of metal
and superconductor interact.

Now a collaboration of researchers from Princeton University, Brookhaven National Laboratory, and
the Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry in Japan has used Scanning Tunneling
Microscopy to investigate for the first time how this happens on the nanoscale. As they warmed a
superconducting sample, they saw that superconductivity died out at different temperatures in regions
just a few nanometres apart. Superconductivity didn't just depend on the characteristics of the local
region, but on what was going on nearby. Regions of stronger superconductivity seemed to help
regions of weaker superconductivity survive at higher temperatures.

Researchers might exploit this interplay by micromanaging a superconductor's structure, so that

regions of strong superconductivity have the maximum benefit to weak regions, potentially resulting in
a new material that's superconducting at a higher overall temperature than is possible with randomly
arranged ceramic superconductors.

AN UNDERSTANDING OF INNER WORKING OF HIGH TEMPERATURE SUPERCONDUCTOR

Apart from this - measurements taken at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
may help physicists develop a clearer understanding of high-temperature superconductors, whose
behavior remains in many ways mysterious decades after their discovery. A new copper-based
compound exhibits properties never before seen in a superconductor and could be a step toward
solving part of the mystery.

Copper-based high-temperature superconductors are created by taking a nonconducting material

called a Mott insulator and either adding or removing some electrons from its crystal structure. As the
quantity of electrons is raised or lowered, the material undergoes a gradual transformation to one that,
at certain temperatures, conducts electricity utterly without resistance. Until now, all materials that fit
the bill could only be pushed toward superconductivity either by adding or removing electrons -- but
not both.

However, the new material tested at the NIST Centre for Neutron Research (NCNR) is the first one
ever found that exhibits properties of both of these regimes. A team of researchers from Osaka
University, the University of Virginia, the Japanese Central Research Institute of Electric Power
Industry, Tohoku University and the NIST NCNR used neutron diffraction to explore the novel
material, known only by its chemical formula of YLBLCO.

The material can only be made to superconduct by removing electrons. But if electrons are added, it
also exhibits some properties only seen in those materials that superconduct with an electron surplus
-- hinting that scientists may now be able to study the relationship between the two ways of creating
superconductors, an opportunity that was unavailable before this "ambipolar" material was found.

IRON-BASED MATERIALS MAY UNLOCK SUPERCO’DUCTIVITY'S SECRETS

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) are decoding the
mysterious mechanisms behind the high-temperature superconductors that industry hopes will find
wide use in next-generation systems for storing, distributing and using electricity

In two new papers on a recently discovered class of high-temperature superconductors, they report
that the already complicated relationship between magnetism and superconductivity may be more
involved than previously thought, or that a whole new mechanism may drive some types of
superconductors.

At temperatures approaching absolute zero, many materials become superconductors, capable of

carrying vast amounts of electrical current with no resistance. In such low-temperature
superconductors, magnetism is a villain whose appearance shatters the fragile superconductive state.
But in 1986, scientists discovered "high temperature" (HTc) superconductors capable of operating
much warmer than the previous limit of 30 degrees above absolute zero.
In fact, today's copper-oxide materials are superconductive in liquid nitrogen, a bargain-priced coolant
that goes up to a balmy 77 degrees above absolute zero. Such materials have enabled applications
as diverse as high-speed maglev trains, magnetic-resonance imagers and highly sensitive
astronomical detectors. Still, no one really understands how HTc superconductivity works, although
scientists have long suspected that in this case, magnetism boosts rather than suppresses the effect.

The beginnings of what could be a breakthrough came in early 2008 when Japanese researchers
announced discovery of a new class of iron-based HTc superconductors. In addition to being easier to
shape into wires and otherwise commercialize than today's copper-oxides, such materials provide
scientists fresh new subjects with which to develop and test theories about HTc superconductivity's
origins.

Scientists at NIST's Centre for Neutron Research and a team including researchers from the
University of Tennessee at Knoxville, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the University of Maryland,
Ames Laboratory and Iowa State University used beams of neutrons to peek into a superconductor's
atomic structure. They first found iron-based superconductors to be similar to copper-oxide materials
in how "doping" (adding specific elements to insulators in or around a HTc superconductor) influences
their magnetic properties and superconductivity.

Then the team tested the iron-based material without doping it. Under moderate pressure, the volume
of the material's crystal structure compressed an unusually high 5 percent. Intriguingly, it also became
superconductive without a hint of magnetism.

The iron-based material's behavior under pressure may suggest the remarkable possibility of an
entirely different mechanism behind superconductivity than with copper oxide materials, NIST Fellow
Jeffrey Lynn said. Or it could be that magnetism is simply an ancillary part of HTc superconductivity in
general, he said—and that a similar, deeper mechanism underlies the superconductivity in both.
Understanding the origin of the superconductivity will help engineers tailor materials to specific
applications, guide materials scientists in the search for new materials with improved properties and,
scientists hope, usher in higher-temperature superconductor

CHAPTER 4

MOTIVE BEHIND THE IDEA

The temptation which drove thousands of super quality scientists starting from Einthoven to Einstein
to Erlenmeyer is the same in such business leaders with only a single difference that they have an
added dimension in their approach which is to make a commercially viable business endeavour
supporting the service potential to hundreds and millions of human beings. Money is an obvious
reference of exchange and counting unit of the acquired wealth which may keep on reminding such
materialistic minds about their further challenges and volume of achievement.

CHALLENGES FACED BY THE ROOM TEMPERATURE SUPERCONDUCTORS

•Superconductors wont superconduct at normal temperatures, they have to be chilled far below zero
in order to work. This makes them difficult and expensive to build and operate and restricts what can
be done with them

•Highly reliable, conservative designs are necessary, especially in the commercial sector

•Even after a superconducting material with adequate properties is developed , it takes many years to
develop a practical conductor from the material and to demonstrate its viability in a commercial
prototype
•Even the discovery of room temperature superconductors would not substantially improve the
prospects for magnetically levitated transport systems in the United States because the costs of such
systems are dominated by costs of land acquisition and guideway construction.

FUTURE POTENTIALOF THE IDEA:

Room temperature super conductor would be of great help if it comes into being. It would have a
great commercial advantage and would be highly beneficial. Resources are scarce hence optimum
utilisation of available resources is quite necessary. Electricity is scarce, hence this room temperature
superconductor will be of a great advantage. . Again it will pave the way for energy efficiency and
energy sustainability as it has almost zero energy loss mechanism. As a result the world would have
less atmospheric pollution and hence more environment friendly.

No energy loss would be a remarkable achievement. If a material could carry current with no
resistance at room temperature, no energy would be lost as heat, meaning faster, lower-power
electronics. And electricity could be carried long distances with 100 per cent efficiency.

One exciting applications is using superconducting wire to provide lossless power transmission from
power stations to cities. Superconducting wire can hold a much higher current density than existing
copper wire and is lossless and therefore energy saving. Superconductors offer powerful
opportunities for restoring the reliability of the power grid and increasing its capacity and efficiency by
providing reactive power reserves against blackouts, and by generating and transmitting electricity.

Again some of the possible applications include:

• magnetically levitated superfast train

• efficient magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)

• lossless power generators

• Transformers, and transmission lines

• Powerful supercomputers, wireless communication

• Magnetic cloaking devices for warships

• Force fields for protecting interplanetary astronauts from cosmic radiation

• Plasma rockets to propel their spaceships

• SQUID miracle sensors and atom smashers.

 A room-temperature superconductor would make energy use ultra- efficient. Envisaged future
applications of superconductors exist also in ultrafast electronic devices and in quantum computing.

One spectacular property of superconductors is their lack of electrical resistance, which makes them
almost ideal for producing and using electrical energy. Another is their remarkable sensitivity to
magnetic fields, which makes it possible to produce superconducting junctions that excel as sensitive
detectors and as elements for the next generation of computers.

-Superconducting prototypes of motors, generators, transmission lines and ship propulsion units
already have been built.

-Supercooled superconductors cause a prototype train in Japan to float on a test track several
kilometres long.

-Superconductors also have entered the marketplace, in the powerful magnets used in magnetic
resonance imaging.

According to Mr.Theodore Geballe, a professor at Stanford University’s Department of applied

physics, “There are at least three classes of materials with promise for supporting superconductivity at
much higher temperatures than are now possible”

Artificial structures in the form of thin films can be grown layer by layer to optimize the electron-
electron interactions that give rise to superconductivity. A few laboratories in Europe, Asia and the
United States, including at Stanford, already have grown films that conduct electricity without loss at
minus 297 F in directions both parallel and perpendicular to the film. They have built "superlattices" by
sandwiching layers of yttrium, barium, copper and oxygen with layers of related atoms. The highly
ordered atoms in these lattices promote sophisticated patterns of superconductivity.

Molecular crystals are a second promising class of materials. One of these, buckminsterfullerene, is
made up of 60 carbon atoms that fit together like Buckminster Fuller's geodesic domes or the panels
of a soccer ball. AT&T Bell Labs discovered earlier this year that these "buckyballs" become
superconducting when exposed to vapours of such alkali metals as potassium.

In a third class of materials, organic charge transfer salts, and conductivity takes place along chains
of organic molecules. So far in this relatively new field, superconductivity occurs only at temperatures
slightly above liquid helium, minus 452 F. Superconductivity in these organic chains also competes
with other forces, such as magnetism, which - to the consternation of scientists - suppresses the
superconductivity.

The future of superconductivity research is to find materials that can become superconductors at
room temperature. Once this happens, the whole world of electronics, power and transportation will
be revolutionized
CHAPTER 5

REPORTS ON ROOM TEMPERATURE SUPERCONDUCTORS BY MR. MARK GOLDES (the CEO

& CHAIRMAN OF MAGNETIC POWER Inc. And the subsidiary ROOM TEMPERATURE
SUPERCONDUCTORS Inc)

Since 1970’s there has been a sustained effort to bring about a change in the cost of transporting
electricity. In that regard they attempted at plastic and found that the polymer qualified as a conductor
suitable to sustain high voltage.

In the last few years we have seen the birth of a company where the CEO Mr. Goldes has promised
to invest $ 6 mn down the line for three years to convert the copperwires in household appliances,
motors etc. at a large scale.

A synopsis of the interview with the CEO of Room Temperature Superconductors Inc. Mr. Goldes:

• Oxidized Polypropylene was used in their research which indicated more conductivity and
was also convenient as it weighed less than the conventional wires. They used the atactic
(amorphous) material which is often discarded as a waste product. Eventually on a per ampere basis
it is likely to be cheaper than copper.

• The materials are common plastics and are likely to prove easier to form into cable than was
possible with cryogenically cooled ceramics and metals.

• Working— After proper processing is done electron chains form in the material and they
cluster in a region about one micron in diameter. A cluster always carries 50 amperes even though
each is only about one fiftieth the diameter of a human hair.

• The ultra grid would provide a tie line for the nations electric power utilities. Disaster will have
a far less impact if power can be rapidly imported from the areas that were not affected .

• The door to wire and cable development has been opened. They have now successfully
patented concentration techniques which is an essential step leading to the creation of wires.

• The wires that will be developed are likely to provide energy storage in a form extremely
useful for computer chips and other electronic devices. They can charge and discharge at very high
speed.

CHAPTER 6

CONCLUSION

India is a worst example in terms of T & D losses. Our country’s power sector , infamous for its
distribution sector inefficiencies, shares the top slot in the company of countries such as Nigeria and
Nicaragua when it comes to overall Transmission and Distribution (T&D) loss levels. India’s average
loss levels is about 33%.

While the Government has tried to stem the loss levels through efforts at metering of 11 kV feeders
and consumer meter, energy accounting and auditing, the Centre's key reform project — the
Accelerated Power Development and Reforms Programme (APDRP) — has been perceived to be
losing steam. Taking advantage of the incentives available under APDRP for reducing T&D losses,
distribution utilities in some States such as Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan have shown
reduction in cash losses over the last three financial years.
However, most others, including traditional laggards such as Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh,
have been unable to stem their T&D losses.

Apart from political patronage which institutionalises the fact there are other challenges which can be
largely addressed if a superconducting methodology can be applied successfully in which case the
losses due to high voltage elevation and other technical glitches can be effectively dealt with.

Moreover the copper is not an inexhaustible resource. Therefore to look forward to invest a new
conductor is not only pragmatic but also very timely.

If the superconducting benefits any country it can never be other than our own country India who will
be the largest beneficiary.

REFERRENCE

http://www.physorg.com/news134828104.html

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2001-11/ns-stw112801.php

http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/energy/question610.htm

http://www.dailytech.com/Indian+University+Reportedly+Observes+Room+Temperature+Supercon
ductor/article19179.htm