[sci.electronics] Superconductivity Questions

milo@ndmath.UUCP (Greg Corson) (10/03/87)

I've got a couple of superconductivity-related questions:

1. I keep hearing people say you can "cook up liquid N2 temperature 
   superconductors in any microwave" on the news and in some magazines.
   Is this an oversimplification by the media or is it true?  And
   if true, anybody have a recipe?

2. Can anybody give me any good references on a description of the
   Meisner effect (probably spelled wrong, I refer to the effect that
   allows a magnet to levitate over a superconductor).  I'm mainly 
   interested in an overview of what kind of magnetic fields are setup 
   and what governs the hight that the magnet floats at.  Also I would
   like to know if anyone can think of a way to cause the floating magnet
   to spin.

Thanks in advance for whatever help I get.

Greg
Corson

ron@topaz.rutgers.edu (Ron Natalie) (10/04/87)

MacNeil/Lehrer did a spot on Superconductors the other day.
It wasn't too bad.  The production of the material (don't know
how much they glossed over) seemed to be mechanical mixing of
the products and then placing the thing into a press (sorry no
microwaves=N.I