Logan Voss
Electrical power is something that most of us cannot live without, so it is imperative that we use the proper components to conduct all our electrical needs. Silver, copper, and aluminum are all wonderful conductors of electrical current but serve specific purposes. These three metals are proven to be the best metals for conducting electricity.
Silver
This metal has the highest conductivity of all metals, hands down, but it comes at a price. Because silver is so expensive to utilize for general applications, it has been allocated for special purposes, such as building high-tech devices like satellites. This is an economical approach to appropriate our resources without overspending.
Copper
With conductivity percentages averaging 101 percent, it’s hard to deny that copper is the leading competitor in this race. Copper has been labeled as the official point of reference for conductors since the International Annealed Copper Standard was put in place for this purpose.
Electrolytic-tough pitch (ETP) copper is used in wiring, busbars, cables, and motor windings. These components all require massive amounts of electricity to operate. So if you’re ever comparing copper vs silver, you’ll know that silver is the best option, however copper is a close second.
Aluminum
With only 61 percent of the same conduction as copper, aluminum is still a huge competitor as the wiring of choice due to its affordability. It also helps that this element doesn’t hold heat or electricity, which makes it a safe option.
At greater weights, the conductivity is greater than that of copper; however, aluminum isn’t made for heavy loads. Because of this, it is ideally used in low voltage applications with the right connector.
We now have a better idea of what metals are best suited for conducting electricity and their individual properties, and we know how to best utilize them in order to make the most economical and environmentally friendly choices. If we chose aluminum for most of our electrical needs, we might have overloading issues that could lead to house fires or worse.
Silver would cost too much and would not be as valid an option as copper, which provides us a limited supply of material that would get the job done at a fraction of the cost. As such, copper is easily one of the best metals for conducting electricity, as we previously stated.
