Lostgallifreyan wrote:
wrote in :
Apples and oranges; we already know what will happen if one were to
build an antenna from a superconductor.
Fire up EZNEC and set material loss to zero; done.
Yeah, anyone with a map could say a great deal about the shape of West Africa
based on ocean travel.
Again, apples and oranges as we know EXACTLY and in DETAIL what would happen.
My point isn't so much about antennas, as about
exploring the easy availability of cold environments for superconductors in
space.
Easy availability measured in thousands of dollars an ounce to get
stuff there.
Not having to lug heavy coolers up there might be an offer someone
cannot refuse, and that someone might come back with all kinds of
discoveries, things no models or predictions are going out there to find.
The only thing that makes a superconductor different is the lack of
resistance.
We already know exactly what that means and what we would do with them
if room temperature superconcductors were available.
Here are a couple of things: electric motors and generators that would
be very close to 100% efficient, small, light, and lossless power
transmission lines, lossless transformers, big honking magnets.
--
Jim Pennino