Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!seismo!sundc!pitstop!sun!amdcad!ames!ucbcad!ucbvax!CZHETH5A.BITNET!BIOMED
From: BIOMED@CZHETH5A.BITNET
Newsgroups: comp.society.futures
Subject: Warm superconductors
Message-ID: <8710291320.AA08591@bu-cs.BU.EDU>
Date: Thu, 29-Oct-87 06:01:00 EST
Article-I.D.: bu-cs.8710291320.AA08591
Posted: Thu Oct 29 06:01:00 1987
Date-Received: Wed, 4-Nov-87 06:29:15 EST
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: The ARPA Internet
Lines: 32

Everybody talks about these 'warm superconductors'. A Nobel prize was
given to the inventors, and the magazines are full of phrases like
'changing the world...'. Room temperature superconductors are expected
for the near future.

HOW will they change the world ?

Power distribution:
Zero resistance allows ultra high currents at low voltages. Can power
lines go underground, because insulation is not a problem anymore ? How
about the magnetic field ? Forces on ferromagnetic objects ? Cardiac
pacemakers ? Compasses ? What happens, if a line breaks ? sqr(I)*L must
be very high -> huge sparks at the breakpoint ?

Power storage:
Can high energy coils be built ? What energy per volume/weigth is
possible, compared to batteries or gasoline ? The support structure for
these coils will be under heavy mechanical stress. Is this the limiting
factor ? Or is the loss of superconductivity at high magnetic field
strength ? What if a coils breaks ? Huge bang ? Poisonous emissions ?

Computers:
Is the impact on computers that big ? I thought, the limiting factors
today are the propagation speed of signals, and the stray reactances of
the elements. Switching speed of transistors won't change, neither will
inductance and capacitance of connecting lines. Or will they ?

Comments are invited.

Tom ANNA
Zuerich, Switzerland.
BIOMED@CZHETH5A   (Bitnet)