Loose outer atomic orbital shell, or valence shell electrons in aluminum and copper for example make them excellence conductors of heat and electricity for the same quantum phenomena reasons, since electrical current can ride the valence shells with loose electrons, the same reason that copper form a beautiful patina green in color from reacting with oxygen in the air and water in the atmosphere over long periods of time with raw copper exposed to the elements, weathering and patina formation conditions. Acid rain increasing rust, patina or corrosion as NOX and SOX from combustion react with atmospheric moisture in rain to form dilute nitric and sulfuric acid rain components that accelerate the reactions that cause rusting and corrosion that damages vehicles and infrastructure faster, meaning combustion emissions have externalized costs in the form of accelerated corrosion of valuable infrastructure and vehicles made largely from iron alloys today. Its possible to use cathodic protection with galvanization, electroplating, coasting, passivation or other steel protection techniques to make the automobile body shell resist corroding longer, giving longer life to automobiles used where salt applied to winter roadways as a cheap deicer, when calcium magnesium acetate offers a non-corrosive alternative to salt, but also 300 percent more expensive than salt.
All chemical reaction in biology, nature, chemistry, industrial mining, production and all other aspects of life on Earth, in moons, planets and stars, comes down to atomic valence shell electron exchanges where electrons are either donated or accepted to complete or deplete the outer atomic orbital shell. Atomic shell theory based on the quantum cloud orbitals forms as electrons rapidly orbit the protons and neutrons in the atoms core or nucleus. Hydrogen being the simplest atom has only a proton in its atomic nucleus and a simple valence shell that can make 1 chemical bond easily.
Water for example is made of two hydrogen atoms bonded to an oxygen, with two bonds, but the oxygen can make 4 chemical bonds, so its has two extra electrons that make the water molecule polar, such that the hydrogen side net positive and the oxygen side net negative. This means all the water molecules in liquid water are connected like little magnets in what is known as hydrogen bonding and explains why water has a much higher boiling point than other polar solvents with a similar molecular mass or atomic composition.
The tetrahedral crystals formed when water molecules freeze together to form ice also make ice less dense than liquid water which is why ice floats on water. In Earth's atmosphere water exists at its triple point in the pressure temperature diagram so that its a liquid water, ice solid and gaseous water vapor at the same time. Water has a much lower vapor pressure than other similar polar solvents because of the hydrogen bonding such that each water molecule wants to stick to other water molecules like little magnets.
When ions are dissolved in water, water becomes electrically conductive, such that sodium and chloride ions for example can carry electrical charges through water, though others salts are commercially important for electrolysis which breaks water down into hydrogen and oxygen gas important as cryogenically cooled fluids for rockets that use cryogenic liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen as rocket fuel, like the RS25 engines of the Space Shuttle. Ion electrical movement in water also how electroplating able to put a layer of nickel onto steel parts as a corrosion protection layer, since nickel metal does not corrode nearly as easily as most iron and steel alloys.
Electroplating copper electronics contacts on ram sticks or similar with gold keeps the copper from corroding as gold is noble or does not corrode because it has a stable full outer valence shell and does not readily engage in chemical reactions at normal conditions, similar to platinum or rhodium. Silver only corrodes because of sulfur in the air, as silver does not readily react with water or oxygen. The dark silver that can be polished away or electrochemically removed with aluminum foil and baking soda and hot water, made of silver sulfide.
Silver and gold are superior electrical conductors even better than copper or aluminum, but significantly more expensive, such that copper and aluminum are much more feasibly to use in wires of all kinds. Chip fabs make use of copper to lay down many miles of connecting wires inside integrate chips, then super fine gold wires to bond the chip to the pin out array to connect the chipset to the mainboard logic for example. Inside epoxy bonded protective housings, the chip a tiny ultra pure silicon crystal that has hundreds of layers of transistors and fine wires precious etches and bonded in a 3D stack on its surface, those features in each layer forming the electrical circuits that enable all computers and many other kinds of electronics to work.
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