Quantum Levitation

[Mills]

 

[Spectre]

You could do true frictionless bearings if you could get that to work anywhere near room temperature.


Edit: I just figured out what we could use this for as is.

Railguns. That ends the friction problem if the damn thing levitates.

 

[WillDAQ]

Old science is old.

 

[Cellos88GT]

Old science is old.

LOL, as I saw that I was thinking "uhh my prof demonstrated this to us in my 1st class on quantum mech..."

 

[logi]

You could do true frictionless bearings if you could get that to work anywhere near room temperature.

There's a lot of research going into just that. Another huge advantage on superconductivity is zero electrical resistance - huge savings for long-distance power transfer.

 

[RoamingGnome]

I don't know if it's old but it is fucking awesome.

 

[argatoga]

There's a lot of research going into just that. Another huge advantage on superconductivity is zero electrical resistance - huge savings for long-distance power transfer.

Except you'd need to use a lot of power to keep it at the required temperature.

 

[logi]

Except you'd need to use a lot of power to keep it at the required temperature.

Yup, that's why the research is going on to try to do it at higher temperatures.

 

[Cold Fussion]

I've stumbled into the 1930s it seems.

Except you'd need to use a lot of power to keep it at the required temperature.

Liquid nitrogen is cheap

 

[argatoga]

I've stumbled into the 1930s it seems.



Liquid nitrogen is cheap

So is distributing electricity as is. How would you propose to cheaply run a continual stream of liquid nitrogen over thousands of miles of cabling?

 

[Cold Fussion]

So is distributing electricity as is. How would you propose to cheaply run a continual stream of liquid nitrogen over thousands of miles of cabling?

The transmission losses amount to less than 10%, the cost of ripping up the entire grid and replacing it even with 350k super conductor (which don't exist and may never do so) is so unimaginably large that you would never re-pay the investment.

 

[argatoga]

The transmission losses amount to less than 10%, the cost of ripping up the entire grid and replacing it even with 350k super conductor (which don't exist and may never do so) is so unimaginably large that you would never re-pay the investment.

So you agree with me.

 

[Cold Fussion]

Agree with you on what? You made a sweeping statement that doesn't hold for a majority of the uses of the technology, then you gave a ridiculous example of power transmission which is ridiculously expensive regardless of what technology you replace it.

 

[argatoga]

Agree with you on what? You made a sweeping statement that doesn't hold for a majority of the uses of the technology, then you gave a ridiculous example of power transmission which is ridiculously expensive regardless of what technology you replace it.

Go back and reread the thread. I said it was impractical to use super conductors for long distant power line usage. I didn't say they were useless for other uses.