...a Conductor

The use of silver as a link, a conductor of heat and electricity without creating sparks is one of the metal's most valuable industrial applications. Silver has the highest thermal and electrical conductivity of any metal.

According to the Silver Institute:

Silver is the best electrical conductor of all metals and is hence used in many electrical applications, particularly in conductors, switches, contacts and fuses. Contacts, a junction between two conductors that can be separated and through which a current can flow, account for the largest proportion of electrical demand...

Over 50 categories of electrical components incorporating silver as the contact material are listed by The National Electrical Manufacturers Association, Washington, D.C. These range from silver thick films that are used to make membrane switches which carry 5 volts or less for electronic systems, to large circuit breaker contacts required to interrupt or close the circuits of 75,000-volt power distribution lines.

The use of silver for motor control switches is universal. In the home, wall switches, timing devices, thermostats, sump pumps, and virtually all electrical appliances use silver contacts. A typical washing machine requires 16 silver contacts to control its electric motor, pump, and gear clutch. A fully-equipped automobile may have over 40 silver-tipped switches to start the engine, activate power steering, brakes, windows, mirrors, locks, and other electrical accessories.

Relays are another important market for silver contacts. Relays are used when low voltage switches (such as membrane switches) are used to activate considerably higher voltage or amperage switches. The increasing use of automated appliances has increased the number of silver contacts manufactured in the US.

Electric motor control switches use the largest amount of silver for each contact. The range of applications is enormous, covering: washing machines, dryers, automobile accessories, vacuum cleaners, electric drills, elevators, escalators, machine tools, and so on up to railway locomotives and marine diesel engines. Silver contacts start motors, set them to run forward or reverse, or at partial or full power. The silver contacts carry electrical power ranging from a fraction of an ampere, for small appliances, to 600-ampere loads required for oil-well drilling motors; their performance is required to be flawless.

Nearly half of the 20 million troy ounces of silver consumed in the USA yearly for contacts and conductors is used for motor controls.

The circuit breaker is the second major user of silver for contacts. For circuit breakers, silver combines the highest heat conductivity and the highest electrical conductivity of all metals, with almost unlimited performance. Circuit breakers are used to interrupt loads ranging from 10 amperes (small household lines) to 4000 amperes (high-tension power lines).

The circuit breaker is the most demanding use of silver contacts because the temperature of the arc generated by the interruption of high electrical power often exceeds the melting point of silver. As a consequence, silver is alloyed or infiltrated into other metals such as Tungsten to provide long-term performance.

Silver's conductivity is also used in electronics: including keyboards, TV's, microwaves, and washing machines.