Notes on High Temperature Superconductivity

Superconductor maglev. Super conductor demonstrating the Meissner magnetic levitation effect: A samarium-cobalt magnet floats above a handmade disk of YBa2Cu3O7.X, a high temperature ceramic superconductor. These are easy to make providing you have access to the chemicals, a muffle furnace and a press of some sort: Obtain some yttrium oxide, barium carbonate and copper oxide. The pellets weigh about two grams each. Mix them in the proportion of one mole of yttrium to two moles of barium to three moles of copper. Grind the solids togeter in a mortar and pestle until you have a fine powder. Put the powder into a crucible and cook it for four hours between 900°C and 1000°C. Take the mixture out of the furnace and grind it back into a fine powder. Put the powder into a press or pile it into the center of a brass washer about a millimeter thick. If you use a washer, set it on a piece of copper sheet, and put another piece of copper on top of it. Whack it hard and square with a hammer ...

07:17:14 June 23, 2004, Wednesday (PDT) Source: The Mediaburn Radio Weblog

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