list of conductors?

Question

can someone list the best conductors of electricity ,up to the tenth best,for example(silver is the best,copper 2nd best,gold third best,so on)

Answer 1

To be a good electrical conductor, the material must have free electrons to carry the charge and not have the individual atoms hang onto them too tightly, a major reason metals make such good conductors.

Ideally, the material's atomic structure should be periodic for it to be a good conductor, such as a single crystal. Several machanisms can interfere with the periodicity of the crystal structure and thereby raise electrical resistance.

The presence of crystal boundaries and imperfections introduce aperiodicity into the structure, hence increase electrical resistance. Therefore, materials ideally should therefore be a single crystal or at least have large crystals. Metal that has been cold-worked by hammering, drawing through a die, or otherwise suffered heavy plastic deformation will have had its crystals broken up into small pieces and numerous defects introduced as well. Annealing, which is the process of heating up the metal and allowing it to cool slowly, allows the defects to heal themselves and the individual crystals to increase in size. This lowers the resistance of the metal as well as changes its mechanical properties. The mechanical treatment the metal has received therefore influences its resistivity.

High temperatures also interferes with the periodicity of a material's crystalline structure. Heat causes the individual atoms to vibrate about their individual equilibrium points, introducing small random displacements from their periodic structure. The hotter the material, the greater the average displacement and therefore deviation from periodicity. This is one reason hot metals usually have a higher resistance than cold ones.

Impurities in the material also break up the periodicity of the crystal structure and also increase resistance. For this reason, very pure metals are usually better conductors than alloys. However, if the material forms a nonrandom crystal structure, the alloy may have a low resistance at that composition where the two metals are proportioned for an ideal structure.

At a given temperature, although pure silver is a slightly better conductor than pure copper, there may be mechanical or chemical reasons to add other materials as well. Gold is used a lot in electronics, for example, because it doesn't form an oxidation layer that may block small signals. (Larger signals can have enough energy to jump across or break down the oxidation layer.) Although this doesn't affect the bulk resistivity of the metal, it can have an effect on the choice of material for a conductor.

Answer 2

Gold (99% pure at 0 C ) has a resistivity of 2.2

Silver (98% pure at 18 C) has a resistivity of 1.63

Copper (annealed at 20 C) has a resistvity of 1.72

Platinum (wire at 0 C) has a resistivity of 11.0

I really don't know up to the 10th best. Maybe you could Google 10 best conductors.

Answer 3

Resistivity, microhm-cm:
Silver- 1.59
copper- 1.72
gold- 2.35
aluminum- 2.8
bronze- 3.9
beryllium- 4
magnesium- 4.45
molybdenum- 5.2
tungsten- 5.65
zinc- 5.92
cobalt- 6.24
cadmium- 6.83 at 0°C
nickel- 6.84
at 20°C or ambient(all others)

Answer 4

Silicon ( Si ) and Gallium Arsenide ( GaAs ) are a couple, but there are many structures and combinations available...