Revolutions-whether political or scientific-sometimes take years and need small catalysts along the way to keep them going. Last year, excited scientists trumpeted one breakthrough after another in superconductivity. New superconductors, some said, promised a technological revolution with levitated commuter trains, superfast computers and cheaper electricity in the years ahead.
But so far, new superconductors-which carry electric current without resistance at higher temperatures and lower costs than before-haven`t yet found their way out of the laboratory. Scientists around the world are working feverishly to find practical applications, and President Reagan has declared an 11-point ``Superconductivity Initiative`` to help American business accelerate the commercialization of superconducting materials.
Researchers have managed to produce wires and tapes of the brittle ceramic-like material, but that`s about it. So scientists at Argonne National Laboratory in Du Page County, where more than 100 people are working on the new materials, decided to put together a primitive electrical motor using the properties of high-temperature superconductors.
They claim no new discoveries or important advances. The motor runs for a half-hour on a liter of liquid nitrogen, which turns a ceramic-like substance into a superconductor at about 290 degrees below zero Fahrenheit. The superconductors then interact with electromagnets to spin a small aluminum plate. The machine produces negligible power and has no practical use, but it will end up in the Museum of Science and Industry to demonstrate for the first time that superconductor motors are possible.
The next step will be to build a prototype of a practical motor and then one large enough for commercial uses, but the Argonne scientists concede that it is probably a decade or more away. They believe, however, that superconductivity technology has the potential to someday cut the operating costs of large electrical motors by 25 percent and those of electrical generators by up to 60 percent. The nation`s generating capacity could jump by 15 percent just by applying superconductivity to existing facilities.
Meantime, there are skeptics to convince, research budgets to get through Congress, international competition to meet and a revolution to keep underway. If it takes a wobbly, simple motor to fan the fires and show the way, so be it.