Isaac Arthur - Superconductors
Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2020 2:57 am
https://youtu.be/uq2b4BqKswg
Summary:
A superconductor is a material that conducts electrical energy without losing any (or hardly any) to resistance. All of our current electricity is very inefficient and loses a great deal as heat energy to the ambient environment. For this reason we cannot easily move solar energy, for instance, between the sunny side of the globe and the dark side at any moment. The distance makes it too costly and inefficient. But with a superconductor, we could move and store energy across any distance or time without losing an appreciable amount of it. Right now, we can build superconductors that work at about 0 degrees F, but once we are able to build ones that can tolerate earth temperatures - up to 150 degrees F, for instance - it will be a huge revolution to every area of production and consumption on Earth, almost as big as the invention of electricity itself. Combined with practical nuclear fusion, practical everyday superconductors will likely form the basis of the next energy economy.
Some Cool Ideas:
1. Perfect batteries or crystals that store energy which last forever unless disturbed. This type of thing could form the basis for an energy economy long after the civilization creating them had died off.
2. Flywheels. This is a good example of a near future technology that could change the world, especially in areas without easy access to electric power. A flywheel stores energy by being rotated up to a very high speed inside of a frictionless environment. So long as it's spinning, energy can be siphoned off of it, and when it is done and inert, it can be returned to its point of origin to be respun. One of the main advantages to this is that it stores energy without the use of pollution-generating metals like lead and lithium.
Summary:
A superconductor is a material that conducts electrical energy without losing any (or hardly any) to resistance. All of our current electricity is very inefficient and loses a great deal as heat energy to the ambient environment. For this reason we cannot easily move solar energy, for instance, between the sunny side of the globe and the dark side at any moment. The distance makes it too costly and inefficient. But with a superconductor, we could move and store energy across any distance or time without losing an appreciable amount of it. Right now, we can build superconductors that work at about 0 degrees F, but once we are able to build ones that can tolerate earth temperatures - up to 150 degrees F, for instance - it will be a huge revolution to every area of production and consumption on Earth, almost as big as the invention of electricity itself. Combined with practical nuclear fusion, practical everyday superconductors will likely form the basis of the next energy economy.
Some Cool Ideas:
1. Perfect batteries or crystals that store energy which last forever unless disturbed. This type of thing could form the basis for an energy economy long after the civilization creating them had died off.
2. Flywheels. This is a good example of a near future technology that could change the world, especially in areas without easy access to electric power. A flywheel stores energy by being rotated up to a very high speed inside of a frictionless environment. So long as it's spinning, energy can be siphoned off of it, and when it is done and inert, it can be returned to its point of origin to be respun. One of the main advantages to this is that it stores energy without the use of pollution-generating metals like lead and lithium.