• Question: Why do super conductors only work well in very high or very low temperatures?

    Asked by Positron2000 to Jos on 12 Nov 2014.
    • Photo: Joshaniel Cooper

      Joshaniel Cooper answered on 12 Nov 2014:


      Superconductors only work at very low temperatures (the best ones we have made work at about -200 C, but most of them need to be below -260C). This is because the way that the metal becomes superconducting needs the atoms to be as still as possible (and heat makes the atoms move about too much). So to make the atoms move less we cool the whole thing down to near absolute zero (-273.15 C) and we are able to make it superconduct!

Comments