• Question: What is the Meissner effect?

    Asked by raj2004 to Joe on 13 Mar 2015.
    • Photo: Joe Spencer

      Joe Spencer answered on 13 Mar 2015:

      The Meissner effect occurs when all magnetic field lines are thrown out of a material. It happens in super conductors.
      Basically, magnets produce field lines which go through materials and interact with them, when a material becomes superconucting, these field lines can no longer get inside the material and inside bend round the material, meaning the magnet floats on the field lines.
      this video is pretty sweet

      The cool think about high temperature super conductors is that science can’t yet fully explain them, and if you could make a super conductor work at room temperature you’d solve lots of world energy problems! and get hover skate boards

      Hope that helps, if you want me to explain more just comment 🙂

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