we all know that electronic devices output heat especially when they're
working hard too much of which can result in sweaty Palms melted chocolates
and even catastrophic failure but do you know why it's because the circuits and
wires inside an electronic device don't conduct electricity perfectly they have
a certain amount of electrical resistance which is the tendency for a
material to resist the flow of electrons this resistance manifests itself as heat
and sometimes light this is a good thing for something like a stove top electric
heater light bulb or a toaster with without electrical resistance your
toaster wouldn't toast which would make it one of the world's least useful
inventions ever but most of the time you don't want your electronics to heat up
imagine for a moment that your house used tungsten wires that's the same
material used for incandescent light bulbs your whole house would burn to the
ground that's why most wires are made out of copper which conducts electricity
quite well and without much resistance aluminum copper silver and gold are
great conductors of electricity but gold and silver are rare So aluminum and
copper are often used because they're less
expensive but even these highly conductive materials still don't conduct
electricity perfectly which is why electronic devices like computers get so
hot without all those heat sinks fans radiators and heat pipes your computer
would heat up so significantly that it would basically melt or catch fire
electrical resistance is a big issue for pretty much anything that uses
electricity modern power lines use thick cables and high voltage to reduce
electrical resistance but a lot of electricity is still wasted it just
turns into heat heat and floats away if only there was a way to conduct
electricity with absolutely no electrical resistance that's what a
super conductor is superconductors are able to conduct electricity perfectly
with no resistance and no heating of any kind and they are so cool
superconducting wires are used for things that require massive amounts of
electricity like inside MRI machines power plants and partical accelerators
and superconducting magnets look like something straight out of Science
Fiction since they move only along their magnetic field and never against it they
can hover in the air indefinitely sounds awesome right but there's a huge catch
for super conductivity to work you need incredibly low temperatures near
absolute zero which requires the use of liquid nitrogen or helium this greatly
restricts how and where superconductors can be used today that's why scientists
have been working to create superconductors that work at higher and
higher temperatures if we had room temperature superconductors modern
technology would be changed forever remember all those heat sinks fans
radiators and heat pipes with a superconducting computer you won't need
any of that anymore Electronics would get smaller and use less electricity
more efficiently this is one of the great scientific advancements that I
hope I get to see in my lifetime maybe we'll get that back to the future
hoverboard after all anyway guys I hope you enjoyed this episode as fast as
possible like it if you liked it dislike it if you disliked and leave a comment
telling us what you would do with a hoverboard and also let us know how you
feel about having alternative hosts on fast as possible thanks for watching and
don't forget to subscribe great job Teran