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Good day!
I was studying and I got thinking.
Some biological masses like the body can act wholly as conductors of electricity. Though, such a mass(the body) contains insulators as well as conductors on it various levels; cellular and other wise, yet it still conducts electricity. With that, some thoughts popped up, thus; firstly, is it possible to get a conductive inorganic substance like a solid copper mass fitted with insulative impurities? Secondly, if yes, would it still conduct electricity?
Conductivity
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Six
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rmarz
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Re: Conductivity
Six - Intriguing question. Conductivity of the human body is complex. Obviously body fluids are ionic, so organs, muscle tissue, and blood products are conductive. Dry human skin tissue is a reasonable insulator but because it has some moisture content, is somewhat conductive and is in contact with the highly conductive elements described above. Copper in many forms, primarily chemical compounds, (copper sulphate, copper nitrate, copper carbonate... the list is very long) are ionic, therefore conductive. I think the question you are asking is, if copper, in pure, finely divided form, can be mixed in some concentration with another finely divided material that is essentially an insulator, will show some conductive properties. I think the answer is yes, but the conductive path would solely be through the particles of copper, in contact with each other, demonstrating a level of conductivity. The proportions of copper to insulating material could be modeled, but my guess is it would be in the order of 1:2 or 3, where 1 is copper, and 2 or 3 is the insulating material. Research 'sphere packing' for more insight. I may be completely off on this, so some additional work on your part is probably necessary. Maybe another expert can assist.
Rick Marz
Rick Marz
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Six
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Six
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Re: Conductivity
Thanks Rick! I'm obliged.
When I asked about the copper fitted with insulators, the mental picture I had (a homogeneously mixed solid bar of copper and an insulator, probably plastic) wasn't explicable by my thoughts, but, I still thought that some levels of technology, probably not yet discovered plus the human brain sometime soon, plus new discoveries could make it possible and conductive though it sounds impossible to a large extent, but, there're buts, so...
Your explanation really helped me with a better picture and I got something very important; with contact of the copper particles, through the whole mass, there'd be current.
The previous question was more of an analogy of some other situation, (kinda a screwed analogy) anyways hair is surely made up of many components, one of which is melanin. Melanin has a large part of it containing carbon, and as we know, carbon is conductive. There's also keratin, which I read some where on the internet is made of long protein chains, which're insulative.
Just like you said; if the copper atoms're in contact, there would be current if charges are made to move electrically. Isn't it possible to ascertain the level of contact of the carbon in melanin along the cortex of the hair, as to supporting charge flow electrically, making hair conductive? What do you think?
When I asked about the copper fitted with insulators, the mental picture I had (a homogeneously mixed solid bar of copper and an insulator, probably plastic) wasn't explicable by my thoughts, but, I still thought that some levels of technology, probably not yet discovered plus the human brain sometime soon, plus new discoveries could make it possible and conductive though it sounds impossible to a large extent, but, there're buts, so...
Your explanation really helped me with a better picture and I got something very important; with contact of the copper particles, through the whole mass, there'd be current.
The previous question was more of an analogy of some other situation, (kinda a screwed analogy) anyways hair is surely made up of many components, one of which is melanin. Melanin has a large part of it containing carbon, and as we know, carbon is conductive. There's also keratin, which I read some where on the internet is made of long protein chains, which're insulative.
Just like you said; if the copper atoms're in contact, there would be current if charges are made to move electrically. Isn't it possible to ascertain the level of contact of the carbon in melanin along the cortex of the hair, as to supporting charge flow electrically, making hair conductive? What do you think?