Pure Silver Wire


If silver is so good to use why do we not see solid silver speaker cables? Price is not that high- 10ga diameter pure silver 6ft is just under $300. That makes a pair of speaker cables about $1,100 for material. I see the price of some of these cables on the market and $1,100 is a fraction of their asking price.

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/124678485835?chn=ps&mkevt=1&mkcid=28&google_free_listing_action=view_item&srsltid=AfmBOorHuS09_34uZqjKKIZUU7NaBQP-mVnY7vnYHl72VmVtDOLiHwnphDA

piebaldpython

@worldwidewholesales stated  "Pure silver has a shorter molecule distance then pure copper which makes it faster and more accurate in terms of sound quality."

This is an incorrect statement. The interatomic distance for copper (Cu) metal is ~ 0.26 nm and the interatomic distance for silver (Ag) metal is ~ 0.29 nm. The lattice constant for a Cu (fcc) lattice is ~ 0.36 nm and the lattice constant for a Ag (fcc) lattice is ~ 0.41 nm. So in the metal, the Cu atoms are actually closer together than Ag atoms. 

 

 

@starwarrior stated "Unlike Au wire Si reacts to O2. Si is actually a better conductor than Au however it reacts when it is exposed to O2."

This statement is incorrect, in addition to referring to silver as Si instead of its correct symbol Ag as @jeffbij pointed out previously. Pure silver (Ag) will not readily form silver oxide (Ag2O) under ambient conditions. Under ambient conditions some physisorbed oxygen is typically observed on silver. For dissociative chemisorption of the oxygen to occur requires heating the silver to several hundred degrees C after which Ag2O is observed.

I would like to clarify that silver in it bulk form is not readily reactive with O2 but in its atomic form it is very reactive. For example in silver nanoparticles, a large portion of the silver atoms at the surface of the nanoparticle are not fully coordinated (have atomic-like properties) and are very reactive. This is the reason that silver nanoparticles are widely used as catalysts. It is possible that a poor silver film with a lot of defects at the surface could have silver atoms that are not fully coordinated and could react with O2 under ambient conditions at these defect sites

Silver does react very readily with sulfur containing gases in the atmosphere, like hydrogen sulfide (H2S), to form silver sulfide (Ag2S). The typical tarnish or corrosion observed on pure silver is due primarily to the formation of Ag2S. The presence of water vapor (high humidity) increases the reaction rate. 

Hi

Let me put it another way: the distance between the atoms (not molecules – molecules are a combination of different atoms like H2O) of Copper and Silver.

But the “charge carrier mobility” is higher on silver than on copper.

Silver = 66 cm²/Vs

Copper = 43 cm²/Vs

And this is why silver sounds so different than copper.

 

Maybe that will help you. Sorry my mistake on the wording.

Best regards Robert Neill

@worldwidewholesales  posted the following:  "the “charge carrier mobility” is higher on silver than on copper. And this is why silver sounds so different than copper.

Yes, the charge carrier mobility has to be greater for silver compared to copper. Silver has a slightly greater conductivity than copper and the charge carrier mobility is directly related to conductivity. A metal’s conductivity is directly proportional to the following:

  1. The charge on each carrier. For Ag and Cu the charge is identical because both metals have 1 free electron in their outer shell.
  2. The number of carriers per unit volume. In the pure metals, the interatomic distance between Cu atoms is less than the interatomic distance between Ag atoms. In the pure metals, Cu has ~ 8.43 x 10^22 atoms/cm³ and Ag has ~ 5.85 x 10^22 atoms/cm³. Therefore Cu has more charge carriers per unit volume (~1.44 x more) compared to Ag.
  3. The mobility of the charge carriers. The greater charge carrier mobility for Ag compared to Cu offsets its lower number of carriers per unit volume compared to Cu to give it a slight increase in conductivity.

The difference in conductivity between Ag and Cu is relatively small (~5%).

Ag conductivity - 6.30×10^7 S/m

Cu conductivity - 5.98×10^7 S/m