Superconducting Hull Armour

[Eternal_Freedom]

This is the result of an idea I have been pondering for a possible hard sci-fi story.

Suppose we could create superconductors on a massive scale, and we use these materials as a layer in armour for spacecraft.

Would this be at all effective against, say, laser, particle bams and proximity nuclear detonations?

[Feil]

No. Superconduction collapses when the medium heats up. Those weapons all work by heating up the medium they hit.

[Eternal_Freedom]

Fair enough. But suppose we had a material that remained a superconductor at very high temperatures? Hypothetically?

[starslayer]

Why would a superconductor have any effect or use here in the first place? Superconductors conduct electricity with zero resistance; they don't have magic heat conduction properties or anything like that. In fact, they're actually rather poor conductors of heat in general.

[Esquire]

There is a theory that vacuum could, under the right conditions, superconduct at very high temperatures. But that's only under magnetic fields stronger than almost anything in the universe, so it probably wouldn't be practical on a starship.

For a more detailed information, this page provides a pretty good summary:

http://nextbigfuture.com/2011/04/theory ... comes.html

[Imperial528]

If you're talking about thermal superconductors, then yes, provided you had enough heat sinks or the material was very good at re-radiating out the absorbed energy.

But using an electrical superconductor for such a purpose would be a waste.

[Eternal_Freedom]

Ah, my apologies, I should have said the hypothetical new material was a thermal superconductor, rather than a generic one.

As I have little knowledge of the area, I was under the impression that superconductors worked for other forms of energy than electrical. My bad, but I learned something new.

[Simon_Jester]

Thermal superconductivity would be a very different phenomenon from electrical superconductivity. I doubt we'd see both in the same material. Thermally "superconductive" materials would be very desirable as armor; heat would spread across the hull quickly, avoiding burnthrough from weapons whose main damage mechanism is thermal (lasers).

However, this would not be very helpful against kinetic impacts or radiation damage- and particle beams and nuclear strikes at close range will both cause a good deal of those.

There is a theory that vacuum could, under the right conditions, superconduct at very high temperatures. But that's only under magnetic fields stronger than almost anything in the universe, so it probably wouldn't be practical on a starship.

Vacuum is a 'superconductor' by default- there's nothing there to resist the flow of electric current.

The problem is simply that of launching an electric current across the vacuum gap.

[starslayer]

Vacuum is not a superconductor since no current will flow across a vacuum gap using a finite voltage (classically, anyway) - instead, it's a perfect resistor. Just because there's nothing there to resist the current doesn't mean there's anything there to conduct it, which you need for something to be a conductor.

[Esquire]

Vacuum is not a superconductor since no current will flow across a vacuum gap using a finite voltage (classically, anyway) - instead, it's a perfect resistor. Just because there's nothing there to resist the current doesn't mean there's anything there to conduct it, which you need for something to be a conductor.

Exactly. The high magnetic field I mentioned serves to string particles together, which provides the path for electricity to flow. Whether it'd be practical to create the field, or serve any useful purpose, is an entirely different kettle of fish.

[Sky Captain]

Thermal superconductivity would be a very different phenomenon from electrical superconductivity. I doubt we'd see both in the same material. Thermally "superconductive" materials would be very desirable as armor; heat would spread across the hull quickly, avoiding burnthrough from weapons whose main damage mechanism is thermal (lasers).

Are thermal superconductors possible? I guess such material would have countless applications wherever there is need to move heat quickly and efficiently ranging from computer hardware cooling to high performance spacecraft radiators that lack any cooling fluid that could leak out in case of meteor damage.

[Simon_Jester]

I don't know if it's possible, but if it were, I know what you'd use it for

[Eternal_Freedom]

Don't leave us on tenterhooks Simon.

[Kanastrous]

Larry Niven made use of superconductor-as-protective-armor in the Ringworld books - pretty much as Imperial laid out. Wrap yerself in superconductive cloth, from which is run a line to a big ol' heat sink, and laugh off the guys shooting lasers at you.

[Simon_Jester]

Don't leave us on tenterhooks Simon.

What, no, it's obvious- you'd use it for all the things everyone already suggested. A material with a really great thermal conductivity has engineering applications so obvious anyone with a brain can come up with half a dozen of them. It's like "unbreakable rope" or "un-crushable brick" or "low-mass dirt-cheap high specific impulse rocket fuel" or any other holy grail like that.

[Eternal_Freedom]

Fair enough, I thought you meant some very obvious thing that remained unsaid.

[SpaceMarine93]

If you want hard science fiction shielding for your spaceships, look up Michio Kaku's Sci Fi Science episode on Sci-fi Shields.

[Lord of the Abyss]

Larry Niven made use of superconductor-as-protective-armor in the Ringworld books - pretty much as Imperial laid out. Wrap yerself in superconductive cloth, from which is run a line to a big ol' heat sink, and laugh off the guys shooting lasers at you.

It also appeared in The Mote In God's Eye and The Gripping Hand.