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Crystal Lattice Structure
Electrons in motion form an electric current, but resistance to electrical flow in a conductor results in a heat increase. Two factors causing opposition to the flow of electricity include impurities, which impede the electron flow by causing collisions, and vibrations resulting from the increased heating that cause the atoms to shift around in the lattice network and collide with moving electrons.
When superconductor materials cool to their critical temperatures, they take on superconductive characteristics in the form of crystalline lattice structures composed of recurring base units. These structures have increased stability because electron bonding allows an unrestricted flow of current.
According to the BCS (Bardeen Cooper Schreiffer) Theory, the super cold temperatures slow down molecular vibrations to the point where the moving electrons form pairs that travel through the lattice structure, creating vacant pathways. Electron pairs following along the path are unobstructed, and this current can continue flowing indefinitely.
Type 1
This superconductor category includes metals that show some conductivity at room temperature but require supercooling temperatures to slow down the molecular vibrations sufficiently to facilitate unimpeded electron flow. Their structure is comprised of pure metal lattices, and their critical temperatures approach absolute zero (-459.67 degrees Fahrenheit). Aluminum, lead, mercury, tin, titanium, tungsten and zinc are Type 1 superconductors.
Type 2
These semiconductors are known as hard superconductors because their transition from a normal state to a superconducting state is a gradual one. Researchers developed these synthetic conductors in laboratories. Their lattice structures are usually metal-based, including vanadium, technetium, niobium, metallic compounds and alloys. Their required critical temperatures are higher, ranging from -459.67 degrees to approximately -211.27 degrees Fahrenheit. Within this range of critical temperatures, scientists find more practical applications for scientific and commercial use.
Ceramic and Organic Superconductors
Ceramic materials usually function as insulators, but high-temperature superconductors are ceramic materials with layers of copper-oxide spaced intermittently with layers containing barium and other materials, forming the lattice structure typical of superconductors. The critical temperature of -234.67 degrees Fahrenheit gives ceramic superconductors the advantage that they can operate with liquid nitrogen cooling. Researchers have found a problem with ceramics, in that they are difficult to mold into useful shapes. This has delayed the research indefinitely.
Organic conductors are materials composed of large organic molecules containing an average of 20 atoms. This category of molecular superconductors includes molecular salts, polymers and pure carbon systems in lattice formations.