3 ms·
If a material is in the superconductive state it does not coexist with a non-conductive or regular conductive phase, all of the material is superconductive. In
by raziel2701 5y ago
If a material is in the superconductive state it does not coexist with a non-conductive or regular conductive phase, all of the material is superconductive. In that sense, it is a "yes or no" property.
What you're talking about is applying a magnetic field, which I'd argue is you're doing something to fuck with it, but if we're talking just lower the temperature and check its resistivity, then superconductivity is a yes or no state.
- willis936 5y agoAll of the material (that is below the critical temperature, critical current, and has no magnetic field penetrating it). Which is to say not all of the material. It is common to have pockets of non-superconducting material in superconductors. If they get too big in the wrong places then you quench. Applied magnetic fields are common because, unsurprisingly, superconductors often find themselves used to make large magnetic fields without having to pay the electric company or cooling ohmic losses. Some applications can get by with just one magnet. Many others cannot.
- raziel2701 5y agoHaving pockets of material being non-superconductive means they're a different phase (like crystallographic or stoichiometrically), that is a defect. I'm talking about a material that doesn't have any kind of phase segregation. In that case, the superconductive phase it 100% a "yes or no" property and that's that. You're wrong.