New Discovery Hints At New Physics Beyond The Existing Theory Of 'Superconductors'

Innumerable physical theories have been modified or changed throughout the course of man's scientific quest. Recently, a group of physicists from the University of Houston has proved that nothing is permanent, arguably not even laws or theories. The team noticed that the way a superconductor traps and confines a magnetic field was wrongly theorized by previous researchers.

Superconductors are commonly investigated for their unique property of exhibiting zero resistance in an electrical circuit. This peculiar characteristic of a super conductor helps it to store maximum amount of energy as it consumes exactly 0% The type of super conductor which can hold magnetic energy, dubbed as "trapped field magnets" or TFMs, gain power to mimic magnets. Roy Weinstein, a lead author and professor at the University of Houston explained that magnets are used in most of the industries where electricity is required. Generators, Motors, Magnetrons would be a mere dream if science is unable to use them wisely.

The performance of dependent devices is proportional to the square of the strength of the magnet. For an example, if the strength of the magnet is scaled up to 25 times the performance increases to 25^2 i.e. 625 times. According to the scientists, the major problem of optimum usage of a superconductor was restricted due to complexity of cooling the superconductor to the exact temperature range in which it superconducts. C.P. Bean, a researcher from General Electric wrote down a theoretical explanation named as the "Bean Model" or "Critical State Model” which accurately interpreted the exact location and way by which an external electric field would enter a super conductor.

The Bean Model was however not full proof and its theory only could limit the production of magnetic field to 3.75 Tesla. The theory inspired the team to progress with their research where they found that the theory could be modified to an extent where the increase of the magnetic field happens suddenly, unlike in the predicted theory where change is slow and constant. The team concluded using their method they could achieve a maximum TFM field of 12 Tesla.

The research is in its early days and will improve with a more detailed approach. About its prospective applications, the team asserted that the current research will eventually replace a $100,000 low-temperature superconducting magnet with a $300 TFM in a X-ray machine. The complete research was reported in the Journal of Applied physics.

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