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Gold Nuggets Can Be Formed With Electricity, Scientists Claim (futurism.com)

submitted 2 months ago by i_have_no_enemies@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

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[–] Zorsith@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 points 2 months ago (9 children)

I mean... actual gold isn't crazy valuable these days, is it? It's used in quite a bit of electronics for its corrosion resistance and conductivity IIRC.

[–] jmiller@lemm.ee 17 points 2 months ago (8 children)

Gold prices have risen steadily for a long time, partly because of its use in electronics. Over $2500/ounce now. But another quirk of gold is the ease with which we can make very thin coatings of it over other materials, sometimes only a few atoms thick. So it is commonly used, but in very very small amounts per device.

[–] Zorsith@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 2 months ago (2 children)

TIL. Electroplating is cool stuff

[–] chaogomu@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

The main reason to electroplate things in gold is that corrosion resistance.

The thinner the coating, the better. Mostly because gold isn't a very good conductor.

Copper is one of the best conductors available. But the corrosion is the problem. It's nonconductive.

Also a fun fact. Stainless steel is a better conductor than gold. But gold is slightly easier to use in electroplating.

[–] werefreeatlast@lemmy.world 6 points 2 months ago

I think you might want to do a little digging in your undergrad science books:

The units of electrical conductivity are measured in siemens per meter (S/m). Here’s the electrical conductivity of a few metals:

Stainless Steel: 1.0 - 1.5 × 10^6 S/m
Aluminum: 3.77 × 10^7 S/m
Copper: 5.96 × 10^7 S/m
Gold: 4.52 × 10^7 S/m
Silver: 6.30 × 10^7 S/m

In this list silver has the highest conductivity, and stainless steel the lowest conductivity.

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