re: #128 Boogberg

Copper is about the best conductor you can find. Silver is somewhat better, but not enough to justify its additional cost.

Gold, in fact, isn’t a very good conductor compared to other metals. It does have the advantage of being almost completely corrosion and oxidation resistant, so what conductivity it has is retained unchanged with age, while copper connectors can lose much of their conductivity as a copper oxide film develops.

In real-world applications, though, this isn’t a legitimate concern. Connectors are typically hard, cleanable and conductive enough to satisfy all reasonable requirements, and the advantages of precious metals nowhere near outweigh their enormous costs.