This is what I learned today actually. This was news to me simply because when we went from 110 to 120 etc. it was done slowly across the U.S. without much fanfare during the 1960s through the 1980s. However, I think this likely caused a lot of fires in things wired from say 1900 through the 1950s or 1960s and likely most people did not put these two things together. However, it is possible that insurance companies did which likely would have raised rates for older buildings wired before the 1960s all the way back to the 1900s.
For example, when I was young I wired buildings with my father where often the wires were wrapped in Asbestos covers which was common especially until plastic coverings could be made more cheaply than the woven asbestos fabric of that kind of wire covering. Generally speaking most wires in buildings tend to be copper or sometimes larger wires will be aluminum too. And I have also run into some wires way back that were made of silver along the way too. It turns out when I did the research that silver is actually the best conductor for electricity even though gold can be even better and gold is often used in Satellites and Spacecraft to prevent corrosion which can be more of a problem sometimes if Copper or aluminum are uncovered by plastic coverings. Also, gold is used a lot in microchips too I believe where plastic coverings for insulation are not practical at all but high conductivity is necessary
One reason silicon is used in Microchips is that I believe the silicon can insulate one piece of metal from another piece of metal and prevent shorts at a microlevel. The biggest problem with Microchips is usually static electricity which is why when you work with them you need special grounding so when you touch them you don't fry them with static electricity especially in drier more desert conditions where static electricity is more prevalent.
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