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Copper Conductivity

Does density (increase or decrease) of copper affect its conductivity?

Rick Coristine
Science Teacher - Chatham, Ontario, Canada
2004

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2004

But how would one go about increasing or decreasing the density of copper, Mr. Coristine? I don't think I'm wrong in saying that copper is a metal that has a particular density which changes only slightly depending on temperature, and isn't an independent variable you can choose.

The purity of the copper is critical to its conductivity though.

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
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2004

Using a powder metallurgy material with varying degrees of porosity allows you to adjust the density of what is still commonly (although, perhaps, improperly) considered a pure metal. In this case, the density would affect the apparent conductivity of the P/M copper, but not the actual conductivity.

Then again, to a lesser extent density is affected by temperature, due to thermal expansion of the metal. Conductivity also changes with temperature, although I believe that most of the change is due to heat (entropy, vibration of the lattice, etc) effects rather than the atoms changing their distance.

Rick, you might also want to check with your local University physics faculty- there may be some other interpretations that I'm overlooking!

Good luck!

Lee Gearhart
metallurgist - E. Aurora, New York

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