Re: [tlug] Gold Myths in the Mists of Memory

[Jim <jep200404@example.com>]

"Lyle (Hiroshi) Saxon" <ronfaxon@example.com> wrote:

> Back when I studied electronics in high school in 1977, we were told 
> that gold was the best conductor (don't they use gold for parts of IC 
> chips, etc?).  

Belief that gold is the best conductor is a common mistake, 
particularly among technical folks who dabble little with 
physics or electronics. There is commonly a transferance of 
gold's mystique and value to its conductivity. This is not the 
first time I've encountered this myth, but I've never heard 
teachers or electrical engineers mistake gold as the best 
conductor, so it is actually more likely that you were not 
told that gold is the best conductor. Memory is a fickle thing. 

   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_resistivity#Typical_values

Legend has it that Oak Ridge was gobbling such prodigious 
amounts of electricity that the substation feeding it had 
silver buss bars.