How does Vanadium Oxide conduct electricity but not heat? Are there any scientific, industrial or commercial applications for this metal?
In: Chemistry
The heat is transferred by electron movements. In normal metals, the heat is transferred effectively because atoms randomly distributed eventually there are so many routes for electrons to hop one atom to another. However in vanadium, electrons strictly organized, just like a marching band, so there are a few routes to transfer those electrons. This makes it less conductive for heat.
To conduct electricity you need to move an electron one side and measure how much that movement is transferred to other side in contrast to heat that needs to be distributed to whole material.
Imagine a vanadium material as a big march band. When a material is heated, its atoms vibrate so when we heat the march, they should shake. The persons we heat first shakes but only transfers this movement to the persons in front of them and not to ones on their sides. So just a little portion of the march shook. This isn’t good for heat which needs vibration of atoms all over the material. However this conduction mechanism is good and efficient enough to conduct electricity which is not disturbed randomly and conducted directly.
You can find out its possible applications with just a quick googling. There are much of them because its characteristics change over 67 degree Celsius and they can be combined with other materials to modify its properties.
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