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"I believe in limited government, and the 20th century has been the century of government. The data is uniform. The government has failed at every single task it has set out to do, with the exception of waging war."
- Bart Kosko
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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. |
| Technovelgy 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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'...small electric motors at the principal joints worked the prosthetic framework by means of steel cables...'
'Living protoplasm incorporated into the Ampek F-a2 recording system...'
'Twoflower's Luggage, which was currently ambling along on its little legs...'
'He came to as the ship went into free flight, arching in a high parabola over the plains...'
'The peculiar quality of this light, which gave it its great preeminence over all other penetrating rays...'
'The overworked leg motor would have to cool down before he could work on it...'
‘Where to, sport?’ the starter at cab relay asked.
