supercurrentn.
/ˈsuːpəkʌrənt/, /ˈsjuːpəkʌrənt/, U.S. /ˈsupərˌkərənt/ 1. † a. A current of water flowing above or against something. Obsolete.
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1837 Naut. Mag. & Naval Chron. May 307 If the super-current be permanent, the sub-reflow will likewise be so.
1860 Proc. Royal Geogr. Soc. 4 186 A polar current..has swept or flowed near or along the surface of our islands and adjacent area, while its counter or super current has moved in a more or less contrary direction.
1894 U.S. Patent 522.006 3/1 With the ribs extending entirely across the pans..the current is compelled to pass over the upper edges,..and that portion of the water which is below their edges is comparatively quiescent and consequently the sediment which lodges against them is not disturbed by the super-current.
b. An exceptionally fast or persistent current of water.
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1985 J. Kahn Goonies vii. 132 The location will have to be carefully chosen, so it's right beside one of those super currents that never stops, like the Gulf Stream, or El Nino.
1996 E. Seibold & W. H. Berger Sea Floor (ed. 3) ii. 64 The speeds they estimated were on the order of 25 to 50 miles per hour (10 to 20 m/s)—velocities of powerful super-currents.
2. Physics. An electric current flowing without any loss of energy, as in a superconductor.
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the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > electricity > transmission of electricity, conduction > [noun] > current without dissipation
supercurrent1933
the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > electricity > electric current > flow of electricity > [noun] > without impedance
supercurrent1933
Josephson1963
1933 Rev. Sci. Instruments 4 6/1 A second suggestion..is that the ordinary conduction or free electrons are not the ones which are involved in the ‘supercurrent’.
1962 New Scientist 22 Nov. 454/3 Superconductivity can also be destroyed by increasing the supercurrent itself beyond a critical value.
2006 F. Wilczek Fantastic Realities 97 The Meissner effect is the inability of magnetic fields to penetrate far into the body of a superconductor. Supercurrents arise to cancel them out.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2012; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1837