Liquid Safety Wire

What if we never had to pay for another foot of expensive copper, but instead had to make a solution of a harmless ion that replaced wires? What if trees no longer knocked down power lines? What if people never died from electric shock because they didnt know the dangers of live current? The fix for all this is, in fact, a solution, and at the same time the problem with the fix is a lack of a suitable solution.

What if, instead of copper wire, we could figure out an ionic solution with enough electrical capacity to replace the copper, and then, instead of heavy wires being hung on poles, we had relatively light hoses that, once hoisted, would be pumped full of liquid from the ground, effectively reducing the equipment required to put them up. This setup also has the benefit of safety: when a tree falls on the line, it would tear through the line and release the liquid instead of pulling it down. Then instead of having people shock themselves while trying to repair or save an injured person, there is a harmless liquid on the ground that will flow away. When the line needs to be fixed it can either be replaced or patched and put back into service. If this works, power will be cheaper, fewer people will die, and storms like hurricanes and tornadoes will be much easier to clean up after.

You see, ions are positively and negatively charged atoms. The atoms get these charges because most atoms have identity problems. They want to have a certain number of valence, or electrons, which are the electrons that are on the outside of an atom and determine how it will behave toward other atoms. The perfect number of electrons, or a full octet, is eight. If an electron has eight valence electrons, it will be chemically inert. In order to get these valence electrons, atoms will either gain electrons, becoming negative, or lose them, becoming positive. When this happens, the atom will be inert in all but its charge. Because of the charge, atoms

form into crystal structures, which are interlocking meshes of ions with equal and opposite charges. These ionic compounds are then nearly completely inert. However, when placed in solvent, which for some compounds is water, and for others is oil or alcohol, the more agile molecules of the solvent, which have polar structures and thus do not have an even charge, will divide the ionic compound, exposing the charges that had previously been cancelled out. This means that the solution is then able to conduct an electrical charge.

There is a significant problem though. Copper wire has a conductivity of 5.96108 Millisiemens per second.* (mS/sec) This is very conductive. Most ionic solutions have a much lower conductivity factor. An example of a high conductivity factor for an ionic solution is ammonium sulfate, which has a factor of 215 mS/sec.** The difference is laughable. Put into numbers, copper is approximately 2,772,000 times more conductive than most ionic solutions. This is a serious obstacle. For my idea to work, first, a liquid would have to be devised that had very specific criteria: First it would have to be as conductive, or nearly as conductive as copper. Second, it would have to be a fairly cheap substance, and third, it would have to be a highly inert substance that did not react easily with other chemicals. If, and only if, these criteria are met, can this idea be put into action.

The other way that this could happen is that if we were to ignore the part about needing the substance to be inert, and Magnesium were to suddenly become inexpensive, than Magnesium, which is not an ion, but instead a metal, and which has a conductivity of 2.3108mS/m would be able to be used.*** If magnesium were able to be manipulated on the atomic level like carbon when creating carbon nanotubes, than there is a good chance that we could manufacture an inert form thereof. Since the two far-fetched scenarios that are explained here are incredibly unlikely, I am going to have to suggest that my idea is a dud in the context of heavy power transmission. Maybe in the distant future, it could be used in space, where hauling

copper to Mars is impractical and water can be found near Mars's poles already, meaning that all that would need to be transported would be solid ion, and even that might not be necessary because there are ionic salts on Mars.**** This would reduce weight significantly, meaning that either the mission would cost less or there would be more weight allowance for other equipment. Since the requirements for power would be much smaller than those of a metropolis, the low conductivity of this method would be irrelevant.

Citations: * Conductivity of Copper: http://periodictable.com/Properties/A/ElectricalConductivity.cl.pr.html

** Conductivity of Ammonium Sulfate: http://sites.chem.colostate.edu/diverdi/all_courses/CRC%20reference%20data/electrical%20con ductivity%20of%20aqueous%20solutions.pdf

*** Conductivity of Magnesium: http://periodictable.com/Properties/A/ElectricalConductivity.cl.pr.html

**** Ionic salts on Mars: Steve Smith. He had better count as credible. http://www.academia.edu/1528356/Chlorate_salts_and_solutions_on_Mars