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Superconducting material hovering over a set of neodymium magnets.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images
Q: A superconductor is a material whose properties are such that the material can conduct electricity without resistance. Superconductors also demonstrate one other common trait: they expel ________ ______. Fill in the blanks.
A: Magnetic fields
Q: The Dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes discovered superconductivity on April 8, 1911. He was awarded the physics Nobel Prize two years later “for his investigations on the properties of matter at low temperatures”. Name the process Onnes used to liquefy gases, a prerequisite for these discoveries.
A: Hampson-Linde cycle
Q: In 1986, Georg Bednorz and Alex Muller found lanthanum barium copper oxide became a superconductor at 35 K — a big jump from the 23 K record until then. In 1987, the American Physical Society invited the duo to present their findings at a meeting. This meeting has since been called the “X of physics” for the excitement it generated. What is X?
A: Woodstock
Q: Scientists have found that when two sheets of graphene are stacked such that their bonds are parallel, and then one sheet is twisted by an angle of 1.1 degrees with respect to the other, the system acquires the properties of a superconductor. What is this angle called?
A: Magic angle
Q: When a superconductor spins, it generates a magnetic field whose axis aligns perfectly with the spin axis. Name the NASA satellite launched in 2004 that used this effect to test two predictions of general relativity.
A: Gravity Probe B
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