Superconducting materials magnetic levitation trains

In the 1980s, a ceramic form of copper(I) oxide was found to have superconducting properties at temperatures higher than previously known superconductors. Superconductors have the ability to carry an electric current virtually without resistance. Once a current is initiated in a superconductor, it continues to travel through the material essentially forever. Superconductor research may lead to new technologies, from cheaper electrical power to magnetically levitated high-speed trains. 

Driven by the ever-increasing demand for limited resources, this process of refinement for physical efficiency progresses in every aspect of transportation on land, sea, and air. Paradoxically, it is in the area of railway transport that applied physics offers the greatest possibility of advancement with the development of nearly frictionless, magnetic levitation systems upon which modem high-speed bullet trains travel. Physicists continue to work toward the development of materials and systems that will be superconducting at ambient temperatures. It is believed that such materials will completely revolutionize not only the transportation sector but also the entire field of applied physics. 

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