The slightly more than lay level quantum explanation of type I superconductivity is pretty simple. That's good because it's the only way I understand it.
No collisions of charge carriers means no losses. The structure (altered by temperature combined with the internal lattice of the material) of the superconductor (clean superconducting simple metal) effectively creates a single-particle energy state in the entire mass of the superconductor by having a Coherence length (analogous to electron mean free path) for charge carriers that's smaller than the collision path/scattering time. The analogy at the quantum level is conductor slices of single thickness quantum particles (wave-functions) in the XY plane moving in the Z direction all in lock-step phase and frequency.
Quantum coherence

Regarding the occurrence of quantum coherence at a macroscopic level, it is interesting to note that the classical electromagnetic field exhibits macroscopic quantum coherence. The most obvious example is the carrier signal for radio and TV.

 

IIRC (it's been over a quarter century since I worked, as an undergrad, at NIST in the Superconductor and Magnetic Measurements Group) one way to view electron-pairing in Type I superconductors is that the so-called cooper pairs are created via phonon exchange. As a result, when one electron in the pair is "scattered" by some interaction the other electron in the pair, via phonon exchange, is scattered in exactly the opposite way. The result is that the pair, overall, is not affected.

 

Physicists discover flaws in superconductor theory

http://phys.org/news/2016-04-physicists-flaws-superconductor-theory.html

 

http://www.livescience.com/51877-superconductors-new-temperature-record.html
The quest continues

 

Numerical simulations reveal 'rivers of charge' in materials that become superconducting at high temperatures

 

https://arxiv.org/abs/1807.08572
https://arstechnica.com/science/201...nductivity-claim-has-side-dish-of-dodgy-data/
https://twitter.com/gravity_levity/status/1027982988125057024

 

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/...ure-superconductivity-has-been-smashed-again/

"Our study makes a leap forward on the road to the room-temperature superconductivity," say the team. (The caveat is that the sample has to be under huge pressure: 170 gigapascals, or about half the pressure at the center of the Earth.)

 

https://arxiv.org/pdf/1906.00708.pdf

We observed zero electrical resistance near room temperature (T = 240 - 275 K) in one of the AuAg nanostructured thin films deposited on SiO2/Si substrate. The variation in transition temperature upon cooling and heating cycles and inconsistence dependence of transition temperature on magnetic field on our measurements do not support the clean superconducting behavior. This might be due to the instability issues associated with Au-Ag thin films during multiple heating-cooling cycles. The observed transition to zero resistance, albeit shown in one of the films only, is quite remarkable and requires more investigations on similar system. The present investigation along with previous report by Thapa et al. suggests the presence of an exotic and hidden superconducting like phase in Au-Ag nanostructures. The observed issues of instability and reproducibility may be associated with structure, lattice dynamics and/or spatial and compositional variations of Ag and Au nanoparticles in these systems. Further studies are required to better control the samples quality and understand the nature and origin of SC in these systems to harness the long awaited technological applications.

Only in one sample but certainly very interesting if it turns out to be correct.

 

While it isn't science I firmly believe their will be a room temp superconductor someday, as nothing in science forbids it.

 

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/...nd-in-strange-metals?utm_source=pocket-newtab

 

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/...nd-in-strange-metals?utm_source=pocket-newtab

Cool. One thing to remember is that even with room temperature superconductors it will still take enormous amounts of power to do the things we want to do using superconductors. The reduction in equivalent mechanical effort for cryogenic cooling is significant but for most heavy jobs that's only a fraction of the total effort needed for the task. National-level electrical transmission losses were under 10% of the total electricity disposition. So we might get half of that 10% back as superconductor savings if they were cheap and available as copper and aluminium wires.

 

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/...nd-in-strange-metals?utm_source=pocket-newtab

I'm certainly looking forward to seeing what comes of this observation. Between the "strange metal" phenomenon and the unknown mediation quasiparticle for HTS materials that maintains Cooper pairs, there's a lot of interesting work to be done. At this rate, who knows? Maybe we'll see a room-temperature (ambient-pressure) superconductor in our lifetimes, maybe we won't.

 

Room Temperature Superconductor?
Exciting stuff. This could be the beginning of a major breakthrough.

 

Room Temperature Superconductor?
Exciting stuff. This could be the beginning of a major breakthrough.

Inches forward in a mile long destination.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/starts...-temperature-superconductors/?sh=4e90a87b8665

Recent developments have brought about the highest-temperature superconductor ever discovered, but we probably won’t be transforming our electronics infrastructure anytime soon. Here’s the science of what’s going on at the frontiers.

 

Yes there have been some interesting advances in superconductors. But there have also been big advances in quantum computers, understanding the quantum realm, quantum sensors, astrophysics, what 'space' is made up of, a large 'bullet' (100mm caliber) that can pierce through 10 plates of 6 inch steel, and one of my recent favorites: a jet that can go at 4200 mph using a new engine design. Of course i think my favorite of the year is Muskies rocket landing where it turns around, rocket engines fire, it slowly moves toward the ground when four landing 'arms' hinge out and down, then it lands softly on the ground. There is a video online i recommend seeing it's amazing.
Oh yeah, and dual layer solar cells.
I hear about advances in superconductors now and then. Havent seen any for sale yet though

 

I hear about advances in superconductors now and then. Havent seen any for sale yet though

Behold: https://www.amazon.com/Arbor-Scientific-P8-9701-Economy-Superconductivity/dp/B000701BXI

 

Behold: https://www.amazon.com/Arbor-Scientific-P8-9701-Economy-Superconductivity/dp/B000701BXI

Oh sorry, i meant to say "room temperature superconductors".
But wow you replied super fast
Yeah you can make your own too.

 

I got the notification and couldn't resist; I figured you probably were referring to the room temperature ones, but couldn't resist being a little snarky. If it didn't cost buying nitrogen every time I wanted to do stuff with YBCO, I'd be halfway tempted to buy or make one of the "high-temperature" superconductors myself.
At least we don't need liquid helium anymore. That stuff can get expensive.

 

Dry ice would also be more affordable.
-109°F or -78°C I love Google and Alexa.

 

Alas, dry ice isn't cold enough for YBCO - it needs 90 K (-183 C), roughly. Dry ice would be sufficient for H2S (203 K, or -70 C), but that superconducts at 100 GPa pressure.

Edit: The 15 C superconductor is a combination of H2S and CH4, btw (267 GPa).