Can superconductor carry infinite current?

5 Answers. In a superconductor, the current can keep flowing “forever” since there is no resistance. But since conductors have inductance (in fact, superconductors are used most often to create magnets like for an MRI scanner), applying a voltage would not (immediately) cause an infinite current to flow.

What is the importance of having superconducting wires?

Superconducting wires and cables are employed in many application fields, from NMR and MRI magnets, to high field magnets for test equipments, for nuclear fusion devices or for accelerators, where the low temperature superconductors Nb–Ti and Nb3Sn are typically used.

Do superconductors really have no resistance?

Superconductors are materials that carry electrical current with exactly zero electrical resistance. This means you can move electrons through it without losing any energy to heat.

What happens when a current is passed through a superconductor?

When a large value of a.c. current is applied to a super conducting material it induces some magnetic field in the material and because of this magnetic field, the superconducting property of the material is destroyed.

Can you touch a superconductor?

If a superconductor placed in a magnetic field, Faraday’s Law says an induced current that opposes the field would be set up. But unlike in an ordinary metal, this induced current does not dissipate in a perfect conductor. Do not touch the superconductor: it contains poisonous materials!

How are superconductors persistent current?

However, in superconductors and some mesoscopic devices, persistent currents are possible and observed due to quantum effects. In resistive materials, persistent currents can appear in microscopic samples due to size effects. Persistent currents are widely used in the form of superconducting magnets.

What are the drawbacks of using superconducting materials to transport energy?

Its disadvantages include the cost of refrigeration of the wires to superconducting temperatures (often requiring cryogens such liquid nitrogen or liquid helium), the danger of the wire quenching (a sudden loss of superconductivity), the inferior mechanical properties of some superconductors, and the cost of wire …

What is the disadvantage of using superconducting wires?

Superconducting materials superconduct only when kept below a given temperature called the transition temperature. Keeping them below that temperature involves a lot of expensive cryogenic technology. Thus, superconductors still do not show up in most everyday electronics.

What happens when a large value AC current is passed through superconductors?

What happens when a large value a.c. current is passed through superconductors? Explanation: When a large value of a.c. current is applied to a superconducting material it induces some magnetic field in the material and because of this magnetic field, the superconducting property of the material is destroyed.

How can we reduce the resistance in a superconductor?

When the temperature of the material is reduced below the critical temperature, its resistance suddenly reduces to zero. Mercury is an example of a superconductor that shows zero resistance below 4 kelvin.

What is the critical magnetic field of a superconductor?

The critical magnetic field can be determined from (Figure), the properties of the superconductor, and the temperature. If the applied magnetic field is greater than the critical field, then superconductivity in the Nb wire is destroyed. In an earlier chapter, we learned the magnetic field inside a current-carrying wire of radius a is given by

What are the properties of a superconducting material?

Another important property of a superconducting material is its critical magnetic field which is the maximum applied magnetic field at a temperature T that will allow a material to remain superconducting. An applied field that is greater than the critical field will destroy the superconductivity.

What happens to magnetic field lines when a sample is superconducted?

Therefore, any magnetic field lines that pass through a superconducting sample when it is in its normal state are expelled once the sample becomes superconducting. These are manifestations of the Meissner effect, which you learned about in the chapter on current and resistance.

What is the resistance of the mixed state of a superconductor?

Although there is some magnetic flux penetration in the mixed state, the resistance of the material is zero. Within the superconductor, filament-like regions exist that have normal electrical and magnetic properties interspersed between regions that are superconducting with perfect diamagnetism. A representation of this state is given in (Figure).