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Politics : Dutch Central Bank Sale Announcement Imminent?
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To: Hawkmoon who wrote (6457)6/17/1999 8:30:00 PM
From: Zeev Hed  Read Replies (2) of 81994
 
Ron, interesting discussion here on corrosion and conductivity. First few corrections, gold is not the best thermal and electrical conductor at ambient, silver takes that place with a thermal conductivity at ambient of 4.27 Watt/cm C and electrical resistance of 1.59 microhm-cm. Even copper is better then gold with (all same units) 3.98 for thermal conductivity and 1.67 for resistance, gold gets only 3.15 thermal conductivity and 2.35 for electrical resistance (not much better than aluminum at 2.37 ). As for coating cars with gold, it would require layers thick enough to withstand any scratching, and furthermore, all those welds will become immediate sources of flourishing corrosion. Modern cars are actually pretty good in corrosion resistance, mostly because they now use a complex process including both phosphates and zinc (as sacrificial anode).

Gols of course could be quite useful if it had a much lower price for instance in PCB (and it is used there in demanding applications) because unlike copper and silver it does not corrode. It could also be used in coating architectural glass since it is an excellent IR reflector and can be made thin enough to transmit the visible. But lowering the cost of the precious metals will have, IMHO, the greatest impact on the platinum group which is much more versatile (but not good electrical or thermal conductors).

I thought this diversion from the sorrow state of the old yellow would "illuminating" (VBG).

Zeev
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