3 ms·

> resistance sucks and makes your electrons bump into protons This is a myth with little bearing to reality. Protons (and the atomic nucleus) are insignificant

> resistance sucks and makes your electrons bump into protons This is a myth with little bearing to reality. Protons (and the atomic nucleus) are insignificantly tiny when compared to the size of an atom. The major contributor to electrical resistance are defects to the crytal lattice of metals and grain boundaries.

graphe 4y ago
Don't you need the defects to have semi conductors? I seen some really cool experiments with superconductors and every computer works better cold. Isn't that why Google's quantum computer is supercooled?
- wcrossbow 4y ago
  > Don't you need the defects to have semi conductors? No. However, most of the time you want doped semiconductors and doing that introduces defects. The defects are bad for resistive losses but that's life. > every computer works better cold No. Conventional electronics based on doped semiconductors don't work below a certain temperature because the impurities are "frozen". There is a sweet spot of temperatures that works best. The purpose of cooling on a computer is to keep the temperature as close to the sweet spot as possible. > Isn't that why Google's quantum computer is supercooled? Quantum computers like Google's rely on superconducting materials (most of) those require sub-Kelvin temperatures to work, both to reach the superconducting regime and to reduce phonon induced decoherence. Superconductivity works in quite a different way to conventional materials to conductivity in semiconductors and metals too.
pjc50 4y ago
The temperature coefficient of resistance is real, though, and could do with an explanation that isn't too quantum.
- wcrossbow 4y ago
  Of course it is! And the explanation isn't even too quantum. Heat induces atoms to vibrate, these vibrations mess up with the perfectly periodic potential that you would have at 0 K and induces electron scattering which leads to more electrical resistance.

graphe 4y ago

Don't you need the defects to have semi conductors? I seen some really cool experiments with superconductors and every computer works better cold. Isn't that why Google's quantum computer is supercooled?

wcrossbow 4y ago
> Don't you need the defects to have semi conductors? No. However, most of the time you want doped semiconductors and doing that introduces defects. The defects are bad for resistive losses but that's life. > every computer works better cold No. Conventional electronics based on doped semiconductors don't work below a certain temperature because the impurities are "frozen". There is a sweet spot of temperatures that works best. The purpose of cooling on a computer is to keep the temperature as close to the sweet spot as possible. > Isn't that why Google's quantum computer is supercooled? Quantum computers like Google's rely on superconducting materials (most of) those require sub-Kelvin temperatures to work, both to reach the superconducting regime and to reduce phonon induced decoherence. Superconductivity works in quite a different way to conventional materials to conductivity in semiconductors and metals too.

pjc50 4y ago

The temperature coefficient of resistance is real, though, and could do with an explanation that isn't too quantum.

wcrossbow 4y ago
Of course it is! And the explanation isn't even too quantum. Heat induces atoms to vibrate, these vibrations mess up with the perfectly periodic potential that you would have at 0 K and induces electron scattering which leads to more electrical resistance.