Quantum simulation
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could move current through materials with no resistance at all? The implications for the world’s energy needs would be enormous. We could deliver energy to homes with no loss along the way. Batteries would be able to store their charges for indefinite amounts of time.
In fact, we have created electricity with no resistance, but the only materials that we know can do this require temperatures near absolute zero. The energy we need to cool these materials to very low temperatures far outweighs the benefits we’d gain in any widely used applications. So, for now, our techniques for dealing with electricity involve lots of wasteful energy loss.
The holy grail for electricity would be a high-temperature superconductor – a kind of material that conducts electricity with no resistance at temperatures that are practical for everyday use. We know a lot about the physics behind superconductivity. We have a formula...
