Word: degreesk
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Dates: during 1993-1993
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...favored by physicists (that's a not-so-balmy -283 degreesF). That record, broken repeatedly, is now as outdated as the 19-foot pole vault, and last month the contest heated up again. First Chu announced in the journal Nature that a mercury-based compound could superconduct at 153 degreesK (-184 degreesF), a startling 20 degrees higher than the old standard. He got that result by subjecting the material to enormous pressure -- the sort that creates diamonds from carbon. Just a week later, a team of researchers in France and Russia reported in Science that they had hit 157 degreesK...
...They are essential to the powerful electromagnets in the huge particle smashers used by physicists and to the magnets that levitate superfast trains called maglevs and enable them to glide above their tracks. To do the job, however, these superconductors must be kept at very low temperatures (around 4 degreesK) through the use of liquid helium, an expensive and hard-to-handle coolant. The goal of current research is to produce superconductors that can perform their magic at less frigid temperatures that are easier to reach and maintain. What's exciting about the latest mercury compounds, Chu points...
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