• chaogomu@lemmy.world
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    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.world
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      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.