Silver Silver Silver is a chemical element with symbol Ag (from the Latin "", derived from the Proto-Indo-European "h₂erǵ": "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. The metal is found in the Earth's crust in the pure, free elemental form ("native silver"), as an alloy with gold and other metals, and in minerals such as argentite and chlorargyrite. Most silver is produced as a byproduct of copper, gold, lead, and zinc refining. Silver has long been valued as a precious metal. Silver
Thermal conductivity is rather insensitive to the energy distribution of carriers because the amount of charge that electrons carry, does not depend on their energy. This is a physical reason for the greater sensitivity of electronic thermal conductivity to energy dependence of density of states and relaxation time, respectively. Mahan and Sofo showed that materials with a certain electron structure have reduced electron thermal conductivity. Based on their analysis one can demonstrate that if the electron density of states in the material is close to the delta-function, the electronic thermal conductivity drops to zero. By taking the following equation formula_52, where λ