Silver has a variety of uses in many industries including electronics, medical, air travel, brazing and soldering, chemistry, food hygiene, water purification and jewelry. Silver’s uses in electronics are vast because of its unique characteristics such as low contact resistance, chemical stability and mechanical wear resistance.
Silver is the best conductor of electricity of all the elements. As such it is widely used in the electronics industry, especially in conductors, switches, fuses and contacts. Electric appliances and devices all need silver points of contact, wiring or circuit boards. In fact, the largest use of silver is in the electronics industry. Silver is used in electronics in tiny amounts, but in many cases there is no substitute.
Televisions, telephones, computer keyboards, children’s toys and microwave ovens all use silver membrane switches, which require only a light touch. Printed circuit boards use silver-based inks and films to make electrical pathways. Silver-based inks produce the radio frequency identification tags use in millions of products for inventory control. Silver is used in many types of batteries. Quartz watch batteries, for example, use a silver oxide cell for power and long life. Silver used in brazing and soldering produces leak-proof, corrosion-resistant joints.
Silver is unique in that it is both a commodity and a monetary asset. Industrial electronic uses comprise 53 percent of annual demand; photography uses another 13 percent. The demand for silver in the electronics industry is steadily rising.
http://www.silverinsights.com/_pages/_uses/electronics.html
http://www.silver-coin-investor.com/silver-uses.html
http://www.gold-eagle.com/editorials_04/hommel080104.html
