SILVER: I know gold mics, whats wrong with silver??

P

Proveras

I like my recordings.
Why there is not any Silver mic around?

this is a good transducer of electricity (silver),
so why the companys did not work with it?

do you know a silver mic?
what happen if I build a SILVER CONDENSOR?
or a SM57 silver bullet - tm ;)??
 
Harvey Gerst said:
Oxidation. Silver oxide is NOT a good conductor.
Click to expand...

Harvey! I'm sort of surprised to hear you say that... I've always thought the exact opposite to be true...

The reason that gold is used for plating contacts in electronics is that gold doesn't oxidize easily, BUT gold is EXPENSIVE, so silver is used instead, and one of the advantages of using silver is that silver-oxide is conductive...

- Wil (somewhat confused...)

PS - I think silver is more conductive than gold, isn't it?

PPS - Contact Performance in Relays - link to info re. contacts and relays - long but interesting...
 
Mercury is the best conductor known to man but it melts at like -1000 degrees Kelvin. and its poisonous to boot. I wonder how it would perform in a signal chain without these properties.
 
darrin_h2000 said:
Mercury is the best conductor known to man but it melts at like -1000 degrees Kelvin. and its poisonous to boot. I wonder how it would perform in a signal chain without these properties.
Click to expand...

Mercury is used in some switches

BTW: Mercury (Hg) m.p. -38.842°C; b.p. 356.58°C - sorry to be pedantic... ;)

- Wil
 
Funny thing you should ask!

I just did an A/B taste test of silver oxide and mercury, and what I came up wi....AGGGGGGG......UHHHHHHHH.....(sound of body hitting floor...)
 
Wil Davis said:


Harvey! I'm sort of surprised to hear you say that... I've always thought the exact opposite to be true...

The reason that gold is used for plating contacts in electronics is that gold doesn't oxidize easily, BUT gold is EXPENSIVE, so silver is used instead, and one of the advantages of using silver is that silver-oxide is conductive...

- Wil (somewhat confused...)

PS - I think silver is more conductive than gold, isn't it?

PPS - Contact Performance in Relays - link to info re. contacts and relays - long but interesting...
Click to expand...
Wil,

I stand (or sit) corrected. Unless there is a problem with using a thin enough layer, I don't know the answer. My Fairchild mics are aluminum coated, and my Akai mics are nickle, so possibly silver would work, but I don't know why it isn't used.

This is really a better question for Stephen Paul or Karl Winkler, David Josephson, or David Satz to answer. I'll try to get an answer from one of them and report back.
 
well.
please report any news you have.

I think it is a very important thing to know:
the "why" it is not used...

also, where is Recording Engineer?
maybe he knows something about the thread.

:) cheers.
 
Darrin, there doesn't exist a temperature of -1000 degrees Kelvin. 0 Degrees Kelvin=-273 degrees Celcius, is the absolute bottom.
 
Harvey Gerst said:
Wil,

I stand (or sit) corrected. Unless there is a problem with using a thin enough layer, I don't know the answer. My Fairchild mics are aluminum coated, and my Akai mics are nickle, so possibly silver would work, but I don't know why it isn't used.

This is really a better question for Stephen Paul or Karl Winkler, David Josephson, or David Satz to answer. I'll try to get an answer from one of them and report back.
Click to expand...

Actually - thinking about it... gold being the most ductile of metals, perhaps it can be made thinner and lighter; although it's my understanding that the mic diaphragms are made of mylar (or whatever) and have a layer of gold (or whatever) deposited on them, so I think that the reason why gold is used, is most probably resistance to corrosion... er, um - I think that's what I mean... oh, man - I need some cofffffeeeeeeeee...

- Wil
 
Oxides are generally not very ductile, so that could be a reason. Instead of bending with the mylar sheet it would make it stiffer...
 
The other issue is: how much gold does it take to coat a little microphone diaphragm with an incredibly thin layer? Not much, I suspect.

On the other important issue of the day: of course, there's no such thing as -1000 (or negative anything) Kelvin, but we'll just figure he's talking in round numbers. Really round numbers. And, of course, there's no Dutch/Polish border either (or if there is, it's really wide and has another country in it).
 
This is just a thought but, I worked in automotive for years. These guys would come around to the car lot offering to gold plate things (plastic door emblems, ect..) on the spot. HMMMM? This makes me think, I know they only had pretty low tech equipment in thier little trucks. SO it seems to me that maybe the process of gold plating is easier than with silver, the whole question of what to use may have a little to do with the process of plating? On the same line perhaps gold atomizes easier? Maybe it bonds better to non-metalic surfaces?

No one ever came around with a little suite case offering to silver plate things.


F.S.

PS To the best of my knowledge gold is a better conductor than silver. I don't think silver is very far behind though.
 
OK, I'll throw my uneducated opinion in here. I don't think that conductivity has much to do with it. I think it lies more in the malability. I mean, we're talking about bending metal with sound waves. That's a pretty light hammer.
RD :)
 
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