For decades, chemists have searched for superconductors, which are materials that conduct current without resistance. Superconductors can carry electric current over long distances without energy loss.
Scientists already know quite a few superconductors. For example, most metals, which cannot become magnetic, have been found to be able to conduct electric current without resistance.
The downside is that there is a lot of frost; temperature just above alcohol, -273.15 °C.
A new place to search
The dream is to find a superconducting material that works at room temperature, but now people have discovered a new place to look for it: meteorites.
A team of researchers at the University of California, San Diego in the United States studied 16 meteorites by finely crushing samples from them and directing microwave radiation at the powder, which reveals the conductivity of the materials.
Powder from two meteorites turned out to be superconducting, and further research showed which substances in the powder had that property.
Extreme conditions create superconductors
The research revealed that the materials were superconducting at close to -268 °C, not at all at room temperature. But the study did confirm a certain theory:
Meteorites that arrive from outer space have been created under extraordinary heat and pressure, and that is why you can find material with properties that cannot be found on Earth.
– 268.15 °C
This is how low the temperature has to be for materials in meteorites to act as superconductors. It is, however, a slightly higher temperature than other materials found on Earth.
