Silver

Silver is the best conductor of electricity and heat of any element, and the most reflective metal. It has been prized for coins, jewelry and tableware since ancient times. Today most is mined as a byproduct of lead, zinc, copper and gold, with Mexico and Peru the largest producers. Its symbol, Ag, comes from argentum, the Latin word for silver.

Electronics and solar panels now use a large share of it. In the television, silver is about 3% of the lead-free solder, forms the electrodes of each resistor, and coats both faces of the quartz in the crystal oscillator, where it lets an electric field make the crystal vibrate.