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"The permanent government now is the anchorpeople. They don't get elected, and year after year they're responding emotionally to this or that."
- Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
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| Superconductor of Heat | ||
| A light metal that accepts heat applied to its surface, and then dissipates the energy throughout the material, leaving the temperature of the material unchanged. |
A superconductor is a substance that will conduct electricity without resistance; typically, a very low temperature is required. Electrical current will flow forever in a closed loop of super conducting material
| Lafferty used his cutting laser. They stood around watching the narrow green beam do nothing to the silvery casing. Staley wondered: where was the energy going? He took a thermometer reading. The casing was just less than red-hot all over. When Lafferty turned off the laser the casing cooled rapidly; but it maintained the same temperature at every point. A superconductor of heat... They tore sheets off with their gauntleted hands. |
| From The Mote in God's Eye,
by Larry Niven (w/J. Pournelle). Published by Simon & Schuster in 1974 Additional resources -
|
The obvious advantage of a superconductor of electricity is that there is no loss; the power received at the device is equal to the power generated at the source. A superconductor of heat would make it more efficient to heat specific areas using a centralized system
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Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
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'A worker replaced by a nubot... had to be compensated.'
'... forcing the energy transfer which allowed him to regrow his lost fingers.'
'The car surged and lifted, clearing its top by a negligible margin.'
Science fiction authors are serious about sleep, too.
'I had explained," said Nessus, "that our civilisation was dying in its own waste heat.'
'Just what did I want Flexible Frank to do? - any work a human being does around a house.'
SF writers have thought about this since the 19th century.
