Things you agree to down the pub

Onnes - the bloke who
started it all

I was having a bit of a ponder the other day with my mate Max. After a glass of the red wine or a pint or two of the black stuff, also lovingly known simply as the Pint, I often wax lyrical about that favourite subject of mine, physics.

Depending on the mood this could be any of the great topics, though recently it was superconductivity. Now I have previously done a couple of introductory posts on this subject and was planning another in a similar vein, but this all changed after some serious reflection last weekend.

See the problem with superconductivity is that there is no accepted theory to explain it. Even though it was discovered 102 years ago (and counting). The best theory came about in the 1950s, the BCS theory, almost 60 years ago and was considered a major success. It was a brilliant theory.

It had one small draw back. The theory predicted that the highest temperature a material could achieve while remaining a superconductor would be about 30 Kelvin (-243 C). In 1987 someone discovered Yttrium Barium Copper Oxide, a ceramic material that was superconducting at 93 Kelvin. I could imagine the conversation going something like this.

"BCS theory, brilliant you know, explains superconductivity."

"Yes...Bit of a problem there though"

"Really, what?"

"New superconductor, YBCO, 93 Kelvin"

"You sure?"

"Yep, Meissner effect, zero resistance, the lot"

"Well that blows BCS out the water"

"Yep, certainly does"

"Well, you win some you lose some, not like they got the Nobel Prize or anything"

"Ah..."

"They got the Nobel Prize? ... But it's wrong!"

"Yes, but we didn't know that at the time"

"Bugger!"

So, the best idea we had turned out to be wrong, but to be fair, it is a great idea... just wrong. Shame that, or is it? because it brings me back to the post and the pondering that went on last Saturday.

It occurred to me that if the most brilliant minds in physics can get it wrong, and have yet to get it right, how would some bloke down the pub fair, if he decided to have a serious go?

So here is the challenge that will occupy a fair number of up and coming posts.

Can a pub physicist really come up with a new theory for superconductivity? If I was a betting man, I would have to agree that this is a bit of a tall order. If those brilliant minds can't crack it then how is some inebriate going to unravel one of the most profound mysteries of the universe over a pint of the black stuff?

Well, I am not to sure, but as someone once said you have to be in it to win it. So to quote another phrase I shall toss my hat into the ring and announce here and now that I am going to find a theory for high temperature superconductivity. I shall report on my progress in this blog.

So were to start... while the majority of ideas on superconductivity are wrong, this may be a reasonable place to start. After all don't want to make the same mistakes as others. Taking a look at what we do know about superconductors may also be something of interest. My theory is going to have to explain every single one of the phenomena so far observed, so I best know what they are.

OK, existing theories and existing experimental results. That's probably enough for now and will no doubt fill a post or two and that is were I shall start.  See you soon.

Next time, so what do we know about superconductors?

One last note. Not only must the theory be right, but it also as to be so simple as to be able to explain it to a 7 year old, if that can't be done then chances are the theory is wrong.