Invest In Silver
Posted 14th March 2010 at 02:30 AM by Andyhenry
This is probably something you've never really noticed if you're not a silver bug but silver is actually a very special metal for lots of reasons. Some of them are to do with people's perceptions, it's rare nature and its historical place as part of peoples family assets (the 'family' silver was often seen as part of the value of a potential inheritance).
Probably the most significant property that will play a huge part in silvers value in the coming years is that there is no chemical element with higher electrical conductivity. That might sound like a boring fact on its own but it means that no matter what the situation regarding silvers normal perceived value, it has a property that means it is the 'best' metal for any application that involves carrying an electrical current. Think about that for just one second - There is no other metal on the planet that can do this job better than silver. That's HUGE. This means that no matter what happens in the future, using anything other than silver to conduct electricity is probably a compromise of some sort.
Now, if you've ever had to repair anything electronic or even metallic you've probably encountered something called solder. Solder is a metal strand with some flux (usually at the core of the solder wire but not necessarily) and it's used to melt around two metal contacts that you want to join together. Obviously silver is an ideal candidate to be used as solder, but on for many applications the solder needs to be very soft and melt at low temperatures compared to the metals being joined, so lead and tin are most commonly used for 'soft' solder. For applications that need more strength and higher melting temperatures zinc and silver are commonly used.
Hopefully you're now starting to see why silver is not quite the same as gold for many reasons. Due to the small amounts of silver used in many of these electrical applications almost none of it is reclaimed or recycled. This means that when it's used in normal household appliances, cell phones, GPS systems, that silver is consumed and out of use for any future application. Imagine is that were gold, we'd probably have much more robust recycling methods in order not to lose that gold.
Andy Henry is the author of 'Now Invest In Silver' a beginners guide to investing in silver and the owner of http://www.nowinvestinsilver.com and http://www.sellingyoursilver.com the new auction site dedicated to silver buying and selling.
Probably the most significant property that will play a huge part in silvers value in the coming years is that there is no chemical element with higher electrical conductivity. That might sound like a boring fact on its own but it means that no matter what the situation regarding silvers normal perceived value, it has a property that means it is the 'best' metal for any application that involves carrying an electrical current. Think about that for just one second - There is no other metal on the planet that can do this job better than silver. That's HUGE. This means that no matter what happens in the future, using anything other than silver to conduct electricity is probably a compromise of some sort.
Now, if you've ever had to repair anything electronic or even metallic you've probably encountered something called solder. Solder is a metal strand with some flux (usually at the core of the solder wire but not necessarily) and it's used to melt around two metal contacts that you want to join together. Obviously silver is an ideal candidate to be used as solder, but on for many applications the solder needs to be very soft and melt at low temperatures compared to the metals being joined, so lead and tin are most commonly used for 'soft' solder. For applications that need more strength and higher melting temperatures zinc and silver are commonly used.
Hopefully you're now starting to see why silver is not quite the same as gold for many reasons. Due to the small amounts of silver used in many of these electrical applications almost none of it is reclaimed or recycled. This means that when it's used in normal household appliances, cell phones, GPS systems, that silver is consumed and out of use for any future application. Imagine is that were gold, we'd probably have much more robust recycling methods in order not to lose that gold.
Andy Henry is the author of 'Now Invest In Silver' a beginners guide to investing in silver and the owner of http://www.nowinvestinsilver.com and http://www.sellingyoursilver.com the new auction site dedicated to silver buying and selling.
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