Re: [tlug] Connecting Conductors

["Lyle (Hiroshi) Saxon" <ronfaxon@example.com>]

Jim wrote:

> > [LHS] As a conductor that needs to conduct through physically touching another 
> > separate material (as opposed to internal conduction), wouldn't the 
> > oxidation of silver be an issue?  
> >    
>
> Oxidation is an issue for most conductive metals and there are 
> plenty of solutions to cope with oxidation in electrical 
> connections such as mechanical cleaning, fluxes, filling gap with 
> corrosion inhibitor, soldering, welding, crimping or plating with 
> omething that doesn't tarnish. 
>
> Silver tarnish isn't hard to deal with. 
> Aluminum oxide is _nasty_. Even so, the joints in electrical 
> transmission lines are fused with high pressure crimps. 
> I.e., just brute strength.  [Etc.]
>  

Thank for taking the time to explain.  I do feel humbled and about three 
inches tall (seriously - for how I feel that is - not the actual 
height).  As for my mistaken belief about gold, you're probably right - 
I must have remembered it wrong.  I hope I did, because my electronics 
teacher I still have a great deal of respect for, so I hope he wasn't 
wrong.  But he was also one of the autoshop teachers with a strong 
streak of mechanic in him, so I think (hope, imagine?) that the issue at 
the time was one of mechanically laying one conductor upon another and 
then I suppose gold provides a good surface for a good connection?  I 
know I recently had trouble with my old DVD player that began paying 
only in black and white.  I pulled out the video connection (S-type) and 
plugged it in and out a few times to clean the contacts, which fixed the 
black and white playback issue and it's been playing in color since 
then.  The cord is a cheap one with pins that have oxidized.  The gold 
coated plugs I have seem to stay in perpetually good condition, which 
reinforced my gold belief.  Now, <sniff>, I'll never be able to look at 
gold the same... <sniff-sniff>.

Thanks again for the enlightenment,

Lyle