GARDEN OF PHYSICS Episode 24
Unbearable coldness of superconductivity
Guest: dr Darko Tanasković
‘From the viewpoint of fundamental physics, superconductivity is still a very active research topic, while the complete explanation of high-temperature superconductivity still does not exist’, says Dr Darko Tanasković of the Institute of Physics, Belgrade in the 24th volume of the popular science video series ‘The Garden of Physics’.
Talking about superconductors, Dr Tanasković elaborates that there is no resistance to the passage of electrical current when going through a superconducting material. ‘However, in order to provoke superconductivity we need very low temperatures, adds Dr Tanasković.
The phenomenon of superconductivity was discovered by the Dutch physicist Kamerlingh Onnes in 1911. He was the first who managed to cool helium down to the temperature below 4K thus transferring it into the liquid state’, explains Dr Tanasković, detailing that this paved the way for experiments in low-temperature conditions, even for the discovery of superconductivity.
One of the most significant applications can be found in the MRI technique in medicine. These scanners, which are nowadays one of the indispensable diagnostic methods contain a large number of superconducting magnets which are cooled by liquid helium’, states Dr Tanasković continuing that the application of superconducting materials in the production of electricity and control of large energy systems could have a tremendous effect on humanity.
The series ‘The Garden of Physics’ was launched by the Institue of Physics, Belgrade inspired by the concept of popular IPB forums which, before the pandemic broke out, had brought together a large audience at the big hall of the Students’ Cultural Centre. Realized in cooperation with the portal ’Science Through Stories’, each episode of ’The Garden of Physics’ is dedicated to one of the fundamental topics of modern science. Instead of being in front of an audience, we now talk with physicists and other researchers in the Garden of the Institute, on the banks of the Danube in Zemun.
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Authors: Marija Đurić and Slobodan Bubnjević
Scenario: ’Science Through Stories’
Camera/drone: Zoran Veljanoski, Bojan Živojinović (Twotech Solutions)
Production associate: Jovana Nikolić
Directing and editing: Bojan Živojinović
Produced by: Insitute of Physics, Belgrade, 2021