Complete the sentences with the words below. Explain the function of each device

The magnetic resonance imaging current limiters squid magnetometers filter(s)

 

1 __________ ________ enable very accurate measurement of magnetic field.

2 Superconducting circuits can be built so as to efficiently protect an electrical plant from supply accidents (high voltage, short-circuit). These _______ _________ react very quickly, guarantee an optimum protection of the plant and automatically reset when the accident is over.

3 _________ ________ __________ devices that have become mainstays of modern diagnostic medicine have been the best-known important practical application of the advances in superconductivity made in the second half of the 20^th century.

4 A _________ is an electronic circuit that selects some frequencies and blocks all the others. This kind of circuit is used in radio sets, for instance, to select the radio station we want to listen to. _________made of superconducting materials are more efficient than regular _______. They are used in relay antennas for cell phones and enable to pick up a signal at further distances from the antenna, hence increasing the range of the antenna.

These ___________ could also be used in telecommunication satellites.

 

57. Use the prompts to complete the sentences

1 Floating Maglev trains would be much more practical if superconductors / work / high / temperature.

2 In theory, high-temperature superconductors could improve all existing electronics.

By replacing copper with superconductors / energy / waste / useless / heat /

3 Accelerators guide particles and accelerate them using / magnetic / field / strong

4 Materials exhibiting superconductivity basically allow for the passing of electrical current through them without opposing / resistance / electrons / flow

5 Until the discovery of high –temperature superconductors, the use of superconductors required … (rare and expensive) or … (very explosive)

6 If superconductors with critical temperature above room temperature are ever found, technology/drastically/alter.

58. Watch the video IFW-Dresden Superconducting Maglev Train Models and answer t h e questions

 

Useful notes

passionate fan – страстный поклонник

friction - трение

evaporate - испарять(ся)

humidity – влажность

shim - тонкая прокладка

conventional material – обычный материал

transition temperature – температура, при которой материал становится сверхпроводящим

magnetic flux – магнитный поток, магнитные силовые линии

maintain – поддерживать, сохранять

cease – прекращать, переставать

 

1 Does the train use any motor?

2 The train really steams. What evaporates inside the model steam engine?

3 What is the core of this magnetic levitation train?

4 What is the rail made of?

5 What determines the distance between the rail and train?

6 What happens with the superconducting material when the liquid nitrogen is evaporated?

7 Can the distance between the rail and locomotive be varied?

8 What is this impressive experiment designed for?

 

59. Watch the video again* and choose the correct alternative

 

1 The superconductor is brought into a certain distance of a few millimeters above the magnetic rail and is cooled down in this position using liquid nitrogen/ using liquid helium

2 To get the superconducting train in motion one has to give it an initial impulse by hand. Due to the friction / the lack of friction the steam engine goes round and round until the liquid nitrogen is evaporated and the material warms up.

3 The train really steams but it’s not water evaporates inside the model steam engine but liquid nitrogen so cold that humidity condenses on it /that the temperature drops to zero.

4 Reaching the specific transition temperature the superconductor traps the magnetic flux of the outer field. Now we can remove the shim of a certain thickness which determines the distance/

which protects the material from the magnetic flux.

5 The superconductor is fixed at this distance and can only move along the magnetic rail even when turning upside down but the effect lasts only aslongas the superconducting state in thematerial appears/ the superconducting state in the material is maintained.

6 Above the so called transition temperature superconductors are no longer affected by magneticfields and a locomotive goes round and round / drops back to the rail due to the effects of gravity.

7Then it’s time to refill the liquid in order to recool the superconductor below zero / its transition temperature.

8 The train looks like a toy for playful physicists but it could soon become reality for technicians/it is designed to test superconducting materials.

* If necessary