Electric discharges underground cause gold atoms to accumulate, which eventually forms gold nuggets, the researchers suggest.
  • jmiller@lemm.eeEnglish
    18·
    2 months ago

    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.

      • chaogomu@lemmy.worldEnglish
        62·
        2 months ago

        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.worldEnglish
          6·
          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.

      • jmiller@lemm.eeEnglish
        41·
        2 months ago

        Well, that is the amount gold that is mined or recycled every year that is used in electronics. The thing is though, a lot of the gold used in electronics is never recovered. So a considerable amount of the gold used in electronics is removed from from circulation in a way the gold in jewelry or bullion or coins isn’t. It isn’t the primary driver of gold’s price increase, but it is a significant factor.