Word: superconductors
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...hour on a cushion of magnetism; practical electric cars; powerful, yet smaller computers and particle accelerators; safer reactors operating on nuclear fusion rather than fission and a host of other rewards still undreamed of. There might even be benefits for the Strategic Defense Initiative, which could draw on efficient, superconductor power sources for its space-based weapons...
...potential of the new development, Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry plans to subsidize private-sector research, and will establish a center in Nagoya to test equipment made from * superconducting materials. In Washington, the Department of Energy has decided to double this year's research support for superconductors to $40 million; it is also compiling a computerized database that will enable American scientists to keep up to date on fast-breaking superconductor research results, and will co-sponsor a White House conference on superconductivity this summer. "It's a monumental subject," says Energy Secretary John Herrington. "It ranks...
...branch of physics was the hottest thing around. Large industrial and government laboratories jumped in; so did major universities. At Bell Labs, a team led by Bertram Batlogg and Ceramist Cava had launched their own program of alchemical tinkering. Soon they had manufactured a similar compound that became a superconductor at 38 K, one- upping their archrivals at IBM. "That's when the hysteria started," says Cava. "The place was abuzz with excitement...
Suddenly, at 93 Kelvin (-292 degrees F), the resistance dropped precipitously. The substance had become a superconductor, able to transmit current with virtually no loss of energy. "We were so excited and so nervous that our hands were shaking," says Physicist Maw-kuen Wu. "At first we were suspicious that it was an error...
...most uses, however, the cost of liquid helium outweighs the benefits of superconducting technology. For that reason, scientists have long searched for a compound that would become a superconductor at less extreme temperatures -- particularly above 77 K (-320 degrees F), the point at which nitrogen gas liquefies. Reason: nitrogen is a common gas and costs no more than a tenth as much in liquid form as helium. In fact, says Iowa State University Physicist Douglas Finnemore, liquid nitrogen, priced as low as a nickel a liter, is a "heck of a lot cheaper than beer...