Recently, there has been a resurgence of the topic of superconductivity, a phenomenon in which a material’s electrical resistance becomes zero at a temperature below a certain point.
In fact, in 1986 at the IBM lab in Switzerland, scientists Muller and Bednortz found that a series of ceramics at 35 K showed superconductivity. The following year, scientists at the University of Alabama and the University of Houston showed that Yttrium Barium Copper oxide at 93 K is superconducting, meaning it will conduct electricity without losing energy. The chemical formula for Yttrium Barium Copper oxide is YBa2Cu3O7, and the high-temperature superconductor they found to be of practical use, often referred to as YBCO, belongs to the second class of superconductors.
The superconductor material, which contains the rare earth element Yttrium (Y), in fact, in the Earth’s crust in small quantities, most of the metal Yttrium from the sand of the monazite, and then Apollo astronauts from the moon back to the Earth’s stone, but contains a large number of Yttrium elements, surprisingly.
It is said that the name Yttrium comes from the small Swiss village of Ytterby, where the element was first recognized by Gadolin in 1789, and it is interesting to note that several elements are named after the village. Yttrium can also be used in solid-state lasers, such as yttrium aluminium garnet (often referred to as YAG), which enhances the energy of light, produces a narrow range of wavelengths of radiation, and has a high power output, which is useful for drilling and cutting metals.
Since it is impractical to reach too low a temperature, scientists are trying to find materials that can exhibit superconductivity at room temperature, especially if they find materials with higher critical temperatures, which can be achieved at more easily attainable temperatures, for industrial applications.
