Read the information and say what current applications of superconductivity you know.

Essential vocabulary

 

apart from	compound n	introduce v	resistance n	sufficiently adv
assume v	conduct v	lack n/v	resistivity n	superconductivity
below adv	conductor n	likely adv	sample n	superconductor n
benefit n	continue v	lose v	satisfy v	tend v
boil v	define v	loss n	satisfactory a	try v/n
cool v	density n	pass v	suddenly adv	wire n

 

 

They don’t call it super for nothing

 

Look at these pictures. What physical phenomenon unites these pictures?                      1 

 

Answer these questions.

1 What do you know about superconductivity?

2 When was superconductivity discovered?

3 What is a superconductor?

 

Read the information and say what current applications of superconductivity you know.

The phenomenon of superconductivity has always been very exciting, both for its fundamental scientific interest and because of its many applications. The discovery in 1980s of high-temperature superconductivity in certain metallic oxides sparked even greater excitement in the scientific and business communities. Many scientists consider this major breakthrough to be as important as the invention of the transistor. For this reason, it is important that all students of science and engineering understand the basic electromagnetic properties of superconductors and become aware of the scope of their current applications.

3. Match terms 1-8 to definitions a-h. Give Russian equivalents to the terms.

1 resistance n	a the ability of certain materials to conduct electrical current practically with zero resistance
2 resistivity n	b a material with zero electrical resistance
3 conduct v (physics)	c a substance that allows electricity or heat to pass along or through it
4 conductor n	d the degree to which a substance prevents the flow of electricity through it
5 superconductor n	e a substance that doesn’t allow electricity to pass through
6 semiconductor n	f a measure of electrical resistance of a substance
7 superconductivity n	g to allow electricity or heat to flow through
8 insulator n	h a substance, such as silicon, that allows some electricity to flow through it

         

 

                       

Choose the correct alternative.

1 Copper /gold / silver is the most electrically conductive element.

2 Aluminum is a good superconductor / conductor / semiconductor.

3 Mercury becomes a conductor / superconductor / semiconductor at very low temperatures.

4 Although silver / copper is the best conductor, copper / silver is used more often.

in electrical applications because copper / silver is less expensive.

5 Gold /silver has a much higher corrosion resistance than gold / silver.

6 Glass is a good conductor / superconductor / insulator.

 

Useful notes

Groningen - Гр о нинген – университетский город на севере Нидерландов

Heidelberg University – Гейдельбергский университет в Германии

Leiden University – Лейденский университет в Нидерландах

to cease [ siːs ] - to stop an action or condition

to impede [ɪmˈpiːd]– to slow something down

 

1 Cooled below a critical temperature certain materials display astonishing characteristics. They can be made …, to present no electrical resistance, and they conduct electricalcurrent with …

2 But to unlock superconducting properties it’s necessary …

3 On the tenth of July 1908 he succeeded in liquefying helium at …

4 Absolute zero (or minus 273 Celsius) is defined as …

5 Atoms have a certain kinetic energy which is dependent on …

6 At Absolute Zero nearly all atomic motion ….

Watch the second part of the video (3:18 – 5:38). Work in pairs and mark the sentences below true or false. Correct the false sentences if any. Then watch the video extract again and check your answers.

1 In 1911 K. Onnes started examining the electrical properties of metals at extremely low temperatures. In the course of those studies he also observed the electrical resistance on cooling.

2 What Ohm called resistance is the degree to which a cable increases an electric currentrunning through it.

 

3 Resistance occurs as a result of electrons colliding with the atoms of the conductor and giving off energy in the form of heat.

4 The more energy is passed to the atoms the less kinetic energy remains for the electrons and the lower the resistance.

 

5 In the course of his experiments K. Onnes observed that when mercury was cooled with liquid helium to minus 269 degrees Celsius it conducted electricity without great resistance and with  heat gain.

 

6 K. Onnes discovered the first superconductor, a material in which an electrical current encounters low resistance.

 

7 That temperature at which a material starts to superconduct is known as the transition temperature.

 

8 In 1911 K.Onnes was awarded the Nobel Prize for physics for his work on the characteristics of the matter at low temperatures.

Useful notes

liquid helium-жидкий гелий

expel-вытеснять, выталкивать

Walter Meissner and Robert Ochsenfeld- немецкие физики Вальтер Мейснер и Роберт Оксенфельд

F.and H. London- немецкие физики-теоретики Фриц и Хайнц Лондоны

John Bardeen, Leon Cooper and John Schrieffer- американские физики Джон Бардин, Леон Купер, Джон Роберт Шриффер.

BCS theory- БКШ теория

phonon- фонон (квант колебательной энергии кристаллической решётки)

niobium-titanium alloy |naɪˈoʊbiəm  tɪˈteɪniəm ˈælɔɪ| -сплав из титана и ниобия

Type I and Type II superconductors – сверхпроводники I и II рода

Brian Josephson – английский физик Брайан Джозефсон 

Paul Chu – американский физик китайского происхождения Пол Чу

lanthanum |ˈlænθənəm|   – химический элемент лантан (La)

yttrium  |ˈɪtriəm|  – химический элемент иттрий (Y)

 

 

Complete the table.

WORD EAMILY continue

Nouns________________            Verbs ________________                     

     ________________                      _________________

Adjectives_____________          Adverbs ________________

          ______________                       _________________   

  Superconductivity: Discoveries & Discoverers       

                                                            

                                                          

                                                                                                                                                  2

                                                                                                                                         

1 Look at the list of Nobel Laureates in Superconductivity and match them with the photos.

 

1________________                     2_____________________                3___________________

 

 

 

4____________________         5______________________           6__________________

 

 

 

7___________________               8____________________         9_____________________

1 Heike Kamerlingh Onnes                    2 Pyotr L. Kapitsa                     3 Lev Landau  

 4 Vitalij Ginzburg                               5 Leon Cooper                        6 John Schrieffer     

 7 John Bardeen                                  8 Brian David Josephson       9 Alexei Abrikosov

 

2. Work in pairs. Read the information.   Ask and answer the questions about Nobel Laureates* in Superconductivity.

  

Example:

Student A: Do you remember when Onnes received the Nobel Prize in Physics?

Student B: I suppose it happened in 1913.

Student A; What did he get it for?

Student B: Well, I think for the discovery of superconductivity.

 

1 The era of low-temperature physics began in 1908 when the Dutch physicist Heike Kamerling Onnes first liquefied helium which boils at 4.2 K at standard pressure.1 In 1913 Heike Kamerling Onnes received the Nobel Prize in Physics for his investigations on the properties of matter at low temperatures, which led to the production of liquid helium and the discovery of superconductivity.

 

2 In 1972 John Bardeen, Leon Cooper and John Shrieffer received the Nobel Prize in Physics for the jointly developed theory of superconductivity. It is the first microscopic theory of superconductivity since the discovery in 1911. It came to be known as the BCS theory.

 

3 In 1932, the Royal Society Mond Laboratory* was created specially for Pyotr Kapitsa. By 1934 he had developed there “an ingenious device for liquefying helium in large quantities – a pre-requisite for the great progress in low-temperature physics.”  In 1978 Pyotr Kapitsa received one half of the Nobel Prize in Physics “for his basic inventions and discoveries in the area of low temperature physics, which included the discovery of superfluidity in helium.”

 

4 In 1950 Landau and Ginzburg published a phenomenological theory for superconductivity, wherein the order parameter introduced by Landauto describe phase transitions is identified as a scalar wave function. According to this theory the properties of superconductors depend on a dimensionless material constant - now known as Ginzburg – Landau constant. In 1962 Lev Landau received the Nobel Prize in Physics “ for his pioneering theories for condensed matter, specially liquid helium.

 

5 You have to be brilliant to win a Nobel Prize in Physics. But imagine how amazingly brilliant you need to be to scoop two of these prizes. That was the achievement of American physicist JohnBardeen .. He won his first prize in 1956 (with Brattan and Shockley) for inventing the transistor.

But he won a second prize almost three decades later, in 1972 (with Cooper and Schrieffer), for developing the best theory we currently have of how superconductors work.

 

6 In 2003 AlexeiAbrikosov and Vitalij Ginzburg received the Nobel Prize in Physics “for pioneering contributions to the theory of superconductors and superfluids*.”

 

7 In 1973 Brian David Josephson received one half of the Nobel Prize in Physics “for his theoretical predictions of the properties of a supercurrent through a tunnel barrier, in particular those phenomena which are generally known as the Josephson effects.”

 

* Nobel Laureate [nəʊˈbel ˈlɒr.i.ət]

*Royal Society Mond Laboratory – Laboratory for Studying Liquid Hydrogen, Cambridge, England.

* superfluid [suːpəˈfluːɪd] – сверхтекучая жидкость

 

3* C hoose one scientist you like most and write several sentences about their discoveries and research work. Search the Internet if necessary.

 

 

   4. Watch the video “What is a superconductor – Magic Marks ”.

      Work inpairs and complete these dialogues.

     Student A: What is meant by the critical current density when we speak about superconductors?

     Student B: I suppose it is current density above which…   

     Student A: What does the critical current density depend on?

     Student B; As far as I remember it depends on…

 

     Student A; You know, some conditions can break the superconductivity of a material.

    What are they?

     Student B: They mentioned three conditions: a)… b)… c)…

 

     Student A: Could you explain the term the critical temperature for a superconductor?

      StudentB I think it is the temperature at which...        

 

5. Complete each figure with the correct term.

 

Cooper pairs                                    The Meissner effect           The Josephson effect

    

 

 

Fig. 1 __________                         Fig 2 ____________                 Fig.3 __________

 

Study the rules

I WISH I KNEW…

Rules:

When the situation is not real and you imagine it, we use if + past (if I knew / if you were / if we didn’t etc.) We use the past in the same way after wish (I wish I knew / I wish you were etc.

We use wish + past simple to express our wishes for the present, to say that we regret something, that something is not as we would like it to be:

 

I wish I didn’t live in a big city. (The real situation is that I live in a big city and I don’t like it).

I wish Ann were / was here. (The real situation is that Ann is not here and I need to see her).

 

After if and wish, you can use were instead of was (If I were, I wish it were etc.)

 

I wish it were possible (or I wish it was possible.)

11. Write sentences beginning I wish

 

Example: I don’t know Paul’s phone number and I regret this.

            I wish I knew Paul’s phone number.

1. You don’t have a key but you need it.

You say: I wish …

2. You want to buy a book but it’s too expensive.

You say; I wish …

3. You want to conduct an experiment in superconductivity but there are no superconducting samples in your laboratory.

You say: I wish…

4. You don’t know anything about cars but you car has just broken down.

You say; I wish …

5. You don’t know his address. You would like to know but you can’t find it out now.

You say: I wish …

6. Mary has to work on Saturday. She is sorry that she has to work on Saturday.

Mary wishes …

12. Write your own sentences beginning I wish…

 

Example: I wish I had a highly paid job.

 

1. (something you’d like to have – a high-speed computer, a prestigious car, etc.)

I wish I…

2. (something you’d like to be able to do – play a musical instrument, speak a foreign language etc.)

I wish I…

3. (somewhere you’d like to be now – in Saint Petersburg, at a football match, in a café etc.)

I wish I…

 

Useful notes

passionate fan – страстный поклонник

friction - трение

evaporate - испарять(ся)

humidity – влажность

shim - тонкая прокладка

conventional material – обычный материал

transition temperature – температура, при которой материал становится сверхпроводящим

magnetic flux – магнитный поток, магнитные силовые линии

maintain – поддерживать, сохранять

cease –  прекращать, переставать

 

1 Does the train use any motor?

2 The train really steams. What evaporates inside the model steam engine?

3 What is the core of this magnetic levitation train?

4 What is the rail made of?

5 What determines the distance between the rail and train?

6 What happens with the superconducting material when the liquid nitrogen is evaporated?

7 Can the distance between the rail and locomotive be varied?

8 What is this impressive experiment designed for?

 

16. Watch the video again* and choose the correct alternative.

 

1 The superconductor is brought into a certain distance of a few millimeters above the magnetic rail and is cooled down in this position using liquid nitrogen/ using liquid helium

2 To get the superconducting train in motion one has to give it an initial impulse by hand. Due to the friction / the lack of friction the steam engine goes round and round until the liquid nitrogen is evaporated and the material warms up.

3 The train really steams but it’s not water evaporates inside the model steam engine but liquid nitrogen so cold that humidity condenses on it / that the temperature drops to zero.

4 Reaching the specific transition temperature the superconductor traps the magnetic flux of the outer field. Now we can remove the shim of a certain thickness which determines the distance/

which protects the material from the magnetic flux.

5 The superconductor is fixed at this distance and can only move along the magnetic rail even when turning upside down but the effect lasts only aslongas the superconducting state in thematerial appears/ the superconducting state in the material is maintained.

6 Above the so called transition temperature superconductors are no longer affected by magneticfields and a locomotive goes round and round / drops back to the rail due to the effects of gravity.

7Then it’s time to refill the liquid in order to recool the superconductor below zero / its transition temperature.

8 The train looks like a toy for playful physicists but it could soon become reality for technicians/it is designed to test superconducting materials.

* If necessary

 

Find synonyms and antonyms

Apart from – except for, slightly- enormously, huge – tiny, expensive-cheap, below – under,

recent –latest, to vary- to change, current- modern, material-substance, to define- to determine,

aim- purpose, powerless- powerful, cooling-heating, within – outside, to apply –to use,

liquid-solid, moreover-besides,

 

   5 Read the article. Which of the facts are not mentioned?

- most superconductors are alloys or compounds          - liquid nitrogen is cheaper than liquid

- criteria by which superconductors are classified           helium to produce

- the lowest theoretically possible temperature is 0K    - alloys of niobium and titanium are

                                                                                          suitable for applications to 10 tesla

    

  Superconductive materials   

 

Not all materials show superconductivity. Apart from mercury, the original super conductor, you can find the effect in about 25 other elements (mostly metals such as lead, tin, tungsten, gallium, or semimetals such as germanium) though it's also been discovered in thousands of compounds and alloys (niobium-titanium, germanium-niobium). 1______________________

___________________________________________________________________________. The trouble with most of these materials is that they superconduct only within a few degrees of absolute zero (the lowest theoretically possible temperature: −273.15°C, −459.67°F, or 0K). That means whatever benefit you gain from their lack of resistance, you probably lose from having to cool them down in the first place. The idea of a power plant that gets electricity to your home down superconducting wires sounds brilliant: it would save huge amounts of wasted energy.

2_________________________________________________________________________ This is largely why superconductors have yet to make a really big impact on the world, despite being discovered almost a century ago.

Not given (NG)?

 

1 Most of the physical properties of superconductors vary from material to material, such as the heat capacity and the critical temperature, critical field, and critical current density at which superconductivity is destroyed

 

2 The simplest method to measure the electrical resistance of a sample of some material is to place it in an electrical circuit in series with a current source and measure the resulting voltage across the sample. If the voltage is zero, this means that the resistance is zero.

 

3 Until 1986, physicists had believed that BCS theory forbade superconductivity at temperatures above 30 K.

 

4 Since about 1993, the highest-temperature superconductor has been a ceramic material consisting of mercury, barium, calcium, copper and oxygen with Tc = 138 K.

 

5 In 1950s and 1960s, superconductors were used to build experimental digital computers using cryotron switches.

 

6 The idea of a power plant that gets electricity to your home down superconducting wires is brilliant: it would save huge amounts of wasted energy.

 

7 Practically all materials show superconductivity at temperatures close to absolute zero.

 

8 In 2015 hydrogen sulfide (H2S) has been observed to exhibit superconductivity at below 203 K but at extremely high pressures – around 150 gigapascals.

 

Study the rules.

I WISH I HAD KNOWN

 

To express hypothetical or unreal wishes about the situations that existed in the past, we use If + had (‘d) … (if I had known / been / done etc.)

 If I’d seen you, of course I would have said ‘hello’ (The real situation was that I didn’t see you)

We use had + done / known / been in the same way after wish. I wish something had happened = I am sorry that it didn’t happen.

  I wish it had been warmer while we were away. (The real situation was that the weather was cold).

 

13. Imagine that you are talking about the past. For each situation, write a sentence with I wish…

    Example: You studied French at your university. Now you need English for your work.

                I wish I had studied English instead of French when I went to university.

              

1. When you were a freshman you missed a lot of classes. Now you think that it was silly.

I wish…

2. There was a job advertised in the newspaper. You decided not to apply for it. Now you think

that your decision was wrong.

I wish…

 3. When you were younger you didn’t learn to play a musical instrument. Now you regret this.

I wish …

4. You didn’t study science, you studied languages. Now you want to become an engineer.

I wish …

5. There was an international conference at your university last month. You didn’t take part in it.

Now you regret this.

I wish…

6. You didn’t do your homework and the teacher told you off.

I wish…

 

Study the rules

 

 I WISH… WOULD

 

We use I wish … would … when we want something to happen or when we want somebody to do something. The speaker is not happy with the present situation.

I wish you would listen to me.

You can use I wish …wouldn’t to complain about things people do repeatedly:

I wish you wouldn’t keep interrupting me.

We use I wish … would for actions and changes, not situations. Compare:

I wish John would come. (= I want him to come)

but I wish John were (or was) here now. (not ‘I wish John would be’...)

Essential vocabulary

assume v                density n               resistance n                               

below adv              finally adv            resistivity n

benefit n                insulator n             satisfactory a

boil v                    introduce v            suddenly adv

cool v                     lack v                    sufficiently adv

continue v             likely adv              superconductor n

current n                lose v                     superconductivity n   

discover v              pass v                     wire

Exercise 4

Student B:

1 One of the biggest successes in the recent past is the production of a flexible yttrium-barium-copper-oxide tape, created in April 1995

 

2 Electricity has become an essential energy source in our modern life. However, today’s power cables can carry only limited currents otherwise they would heat and melt. A network o f s uperconducting power cables would solve this problem because 1000 times more electric current can flow through them: smaller cables with more current

 

3 Superconductors can also be used to make a device known as s uperconducting q uantum i nterference d evice (SQUID). This is incredibly sensitive to small magnetic fields so that it can detect __________(What?). For comparison, the Earth’s magnetic field is about 10 -4 Tesla. As a result, SQUIDs are used in medical diagnostics on the brain.

 

4 A use of large and powerful superconducting electromagnets is in a possible future energy source known as nuclear fusion. ___________(What?) is currently being built in the south of France that will use large superconducting magnets and is due for completion in _______(When?) It is expected that this will demonstrate energy production using nuclear fusion.

 

Essential vocabulary

 

apart from	compound n	introduce v	resistance n	sufficiently adv
assume v	conduct v	lack n/v	resistivity n	superconductivity
below adv	conductor n	likely adv	sample n	superconductor n
benefit n	continue v	lose v	satisfy v	tend v
boil v	define v	loss n	satisfactory a	try v/n
cool v	density n	pass v	suddenly adv	wire n

 

 

They don’t call it super for nothing

 

Look at these pictures. What physical phenomenon unites these pictures?                      1 

 

Answer these questions.

1 What do you know about superconductivity?

2 When was superconductivity discovered?

3 What is a superconductor?

 

Read the information and say what current applications of superconductivity you know.

The phenomenon of superconductivity has always been very exciting, both for its fundamental scientific interest and because of its many applications. The discovery in 1980s of high-temperature superconductivity in certain metallic oxides sparked even greater excitement in the scientific and business communities. Many scientists consider this major breakthrough to be as important as the invention of the transistor. For this reason, it is important that all students of science and engineering understand the basic electromagnetic properties of superconductors and become aware of the scope of their current applications.

3. Match terms 1-8 to definitions a-h. Give Russian equivalents to the terms.

1 resistance n	a the ability of certain materials to conduct electrical current practically with zero resistance
2 resistivity n	b a material with zero electrical resistance
3 conduct v (physics)	c a substance that allows electricity or heat to pass along or through it
4 conductor n	d the degree to which a substance prevents the flow of electricity through it
5 superconductor n	e a substance that doesn’t allow electricity to pass through
6 semiconductor n	f a measure of electrical resistance of a substance
7 superconductivity n	g to allow electricity or heat to flow through
8 insulator n	h a substance, such as silicon, that allows some electricity to flow through it