SUPERCONDUCTIVITY
Quantum Levitation
I adjusted my blue plastic gloves, and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. The scent of new plastic wafted up as I lifted the marvelously light, matte-black disk: my very own superconductor. Dr.Choi unscrewed the ice-blue cylinder and a veil of snow-white coldness followed the lid. Cold crept up from my fingertips and I nervously held onto the table, as I lifted the superconductor back out of the liquid-nitrogen and placed it onto an array of cubic magnets. Its delicate frost faded, and my eyes widened at the magic: the superconductor was levitating. At 10 years old, I was completely transfixed by the little disk, locked in mid-air, streaming cold, and began to marvel at the world of Physics.
Room-Temperature Superconductors (RTS)
Boaz Almog’s TEDvideo about quantum locking inspired me to email him at TelAviv University. He sent me the set for my own little superconductor experiment, and my fascination never dissipated. Throughout school, I fed this passion with books and projects: from Physics Demystified, to exploring Feynman’s writings, Stanford’s “Theory of Relativity” Summer Program, and researching room-temperature-superconductors for my IB Diploma.