2. cables
  3. 1095621733

Riddle me this: how is carbon a conductor?

I'm confused....

M. Wolff has a powercords, and now interconnect cables, made with "carbon ribbon". But when I look up the conductivity of carbon, it's a thousandth of silver's. Almost the same delta for copper.

So why use this stuff in the signal path?

It makes no sense to me (other than he also uses silver) that this is a good design call. Is not what one hears with these designs the non-carbon conductor geometry rather than carbon ribbon?

Really, this is not a shot across your bow, Michael (or to any who is satisfied with the product), but an attempt to understand why use such a poor conductor in the signal path?

Curious, 'cause I'm in the market for IC's and power cords, and attempting to understand the product offerings.
mprime

Showing 2 responses by lapaix

lapaix
45 posts
 
The "carbon" in question is graphite, and its delocatized pi electrons are responsible for its conductivity. That is also why carbon nanotubes are conductors.
lapaix
45 posts
 
Trelja:

Carbon has two natural crystalline allotropic forms: graphite and diamond: you are of course correct.  Each has its own distinct crystal structure and properties. Carbon nanotubes and buckeyballs, however, are distinct allortropic forms of carbon, so there are more than "two" (although neither of the above two are germane to this discussion).

Here is a quote from a website: http://www.azom.com/details.asp?ArticleID=1630

You can read the whole article if you are interested. In this forum a technical discussion is surely not in order.

"Graphite derives its name from the Greek word "graphein", to write. The material is generally greyish-black, opaque and has a lustrous black sheen.  It is unique in that it has properties of both a metal and a non-metal.  It is flexible but not elastic, has a high thermal and electrical conductivity, and is highly refractory and chemically inert.

The unusual combination of properties is due its crystal structure. The carbon atoms are arranged hexagonally in a planar condensed ring system.  The layers are stacked parallel to each other.  The atoms within the rings are bonded covalently, whilst the layers are loosely bonded together by van der Waals forces.  The high degree of anisotropy in graphite results from the two types of bonding acting in different crystallographic directions."

I don't understand the objection. It is simply true that the electrical conductivity of graphite depends upon the properties of the pi elecrons in the system. 
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