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Superconducting generator?

Name: Anonymous 2007-03-09 1:40 ID:NdJI65fk

okay, I'll assume i'm completely ignorant on this subject, but I have a question that I've never had adequately answered by anyone:

If a superconductor is a material that can carry a current with virtually no resistance (when kept at a low temperature), and an electrical motor (in basic principle) operates by running a current through a coiled wire exposed to magnets, what is the limiting factor in combining the two?

i assume i'll be mocked for lack of basic scientific understanding, but what prevents us from shooting an electrical motor, the coil comprised of a superconductive material, into space, where the latent temperature is (or seemingly would be) much lower than that neccesary to maintaining a superconductive current, and creating a perpetual motion machine? or in even more blantant defiance of the 2nd law of thermodynamics, a generator that would produce more power than it consumed?

if a superconductor can maintain a current at little to no resistance cost, couldn't a superconducting coil run an electric motor indefinately if it required no energy input to cool the superconductor?

have mercy, i assume this can't work, but I want to know why.

Name: Anonymous 2007-03-09 10:36 ID:buqrI724

"virtually no resistance" does not mean "no resistance"

Name: Anonymous 2007-03-09 11:56 ID:gXCq2JXv

Superconductors do actually have no resistance, not just very low resistance, but the changing magnetic field in an electric motor requires you to move current against an induced EMF, and that would still require power.

Don't change these.
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