The Basics

    Everyone knows about your basic magnets, and how their physical properties affect how well they conduct a magnetic field. Some materials are magnetic, and some just never will be. Some can be made magnetic by using a magnet on them.
    An important topic in the field of magnetism and electricity is the existence of superconductors.         (7*)

    Superconductivity was first discovered in 1911 by a Dutch physicist by the name of Heike Kamerlingh Onnes (CERN). They discovered that below a certain temperature, later determined the "critical" temperature, a material will offer zero resistance to an electric current, and current will flow within the material without dissipation (All About Superconductivity).

     A result of this zero resistance and ability of currents to flow within the material perfectly resulted in something called the Meissner effect. As Schmidt explains in his book, The Physics of Superconductors, it was discovered that in a superconductor, the field within it was always zero, meaning there was no magnetic flux inside the material (Schmidt, 5). This appears mainly in Type 1 materials.                            (8*)

    There are two types of known superconductors: Type I and Type II. Represented on top is a Type I superconductor, which, when it is below its critical temperature, does not let any magnetic flux through the material, when in a weak magnetic field (All About Superconductivity).                                    (9*)

    This is what creates the strange behavior of some materials.