What is Electrical conductivity: Definition and 36 Discussions

Electrical resistivity (also called specific electrical resistance or volume resistivity) is a fundamental property of a material that measures how strongly it resists electric current. Its inverse, called electrical conductivity, quantifies how well a material conducts electricity. A low resistivity indicates a material that readily allows electric current. Resistivity is commonly represented by the Greek letter ρ (rho). The SI unit of electrical resistivity is the ohm-meter (Ω⋅m). For example, if a 1 m solid cube of material has sheet contacts on two opposite faces, and the resistance between these contacts is 1 Ω, then the resistivity of the material is 1 Ω⋅m.
Electrical conductivity or specific conductance is the reciprocal of electrical resistivity. It represents a material's ability to conduct electric current. It is commonly signified by the Greek letter σ (sigma), but κ (kappa) (especially in electrical engineering) and γ (gamma) are sometimes used. The SI unit of electrical conductivity is siemens per metre (S/m).

View More On Wikipedia.org
Recent contents Top users
  1. milkism

    I Do valence electrons determine electrical conductivity?

    I have trouble researching whether valence-electrons take part in electrical conductivity. Some sources say that a lower amount of valence electrons lead to an higher electrical conductivity, whilst others say the opposite. And each have their different reasons, for example, lower valence...
  2. K

    Electrical conductivity has an effect while charging by conduction?

    I understand that electrical conductivity is a measure of how easily charges are able to move in an object. During charging by conduction (for conductors), it seems that we simply have to add the charges of both object together and divide by two to obtain the resultant charge of either object...
  3. FirewallDaProto

    Quick question about Aluminum Nitride's conductivity

    Whats its thermal conductivity compared to copper? (as in x times worse than copper) also, How electrically insulate is it? I'm looking to see if i can use it to encase an entire motherboard in a giant heat sink for a future project where i want to try and cool the entire motherboard to subzero...
  4. falsepromises

    Why is electrical conductivity denoted by G?

    I did search Wikipedia and other science related websites, couldn't find an answer. Let me know if anyone knows the story behind G.
  5. Physics lover

    Current density as a function of distance from the axis of a cylinder

    I first took out the variation of conductivity along the radius of cylinder.Also we know that J=sigmaE.Therefore i have to find variation of E also.But how will i find that as potential is also not given.Help.
  6. F

    Does chromium oxide reduce conductivity in stainless steel?

    Does chromium oxide reduce the effectiveness of a faraday cage constructed from stainless steel mesh? I am using mesh that is like insect screen for windows. It will be in moist environment. I appreciate your help!
  7. A

    Converting impedence response to electrical conductivity

    Hi, I have a curve, impedance magnitude vs frequency. i would like to convert this curve to electrical conductivity vs time. how can i do that?
  8. doctor_cat

    Electrical conductivity of liquid argon

    Dear friends, does anyone know if there exists any study about electrical conductivity of liquid argon? Thank you in advance for any suggestion.
  9. Cheesycheese213

    How to do electrical conductivity tests?

    << Thread moved from a technical forum, so no HH Template is shown >> Our teacher gave us a lab, and we have to write a procedure on how to test the electrical conductivity of multiple substances. However, on the materials, all that was written was "electrical conductivity tester", which I'm...
  10. M

    Van der Pauw sample preparation errors

    Hello, I'm carrying out electrical resistivity tests with the Van der Pauw method on a round sample (2 mm thick disk) of a doped ceramic but sometimes I have issues in the mounting of the sample. I'm using a 4-probe tube where each of the 4 wires contacts with the "corners" of the sample. To...
  11. M

    How to convert electrical conductivity to pH

    Homework Statement I have some data from measuring EC in solutions and I don't know how to convert EC to pH Homework EquationsThe Attempt at a Solution I use Arduino for programing. Values of ADC of EC that I collect from microcontroller are 80 ( for EC : 0.2mS/cm ) , 90 ( for EC ...
  12. J

    A Where can I find data on electrical conductivity?

    Hi folks, I purchased two books on electric transport at the nanoscale and unfortunately I just found theoretical models and formalism... but the actual data from the experiments was not there. So I am curious about it, I am looking for information on nanowires, quantum dots etc and I would...
  13. P

    Help with our research topic: Electrical Conductivity

    my research is about "The effectiveness of different basic substances on the Eletrical conductivity" and i need " significance of the study " 1) who are the beneficiaries and what benefits will they get ?Please help I am a high school student struggling with my research
  14. J

    Electrical conductivity of SiCl4

    Why doesn't SiCl4 conduct electricity when it's in its molten state and conducts electricity when water is added? The answer is C. I know very well what is X and Z, but unsure what is Y.. Why not Al2O3? What's the difference? Does it got to do with their structures? Al2O3 is ionic with a degree...
  15. H Smith 94

    Electrical conductivity of seawater depends on salinity how?

    Hi! I am currently trying to determine how the salinity ##S## of a sample of seawater (or, objectively, a salt-water solution) changes its electrical conductivity ##\sigma##. It is clear that they are proportional since the mobility of the ##\text{Na}^{+}## and ##\text{Cl}^{-}## ions plays a...
  16. S

    Magnetic levitation using eddy current

    Hi, I am working on an experiment to investigate the effect of electrical conductivity of the metals on the levitating force produced. Basically the concept is this: when a metal plate is placed on top of a solenoid (but not touching), as the a.c. flows in the solenoid the change in magnetic...
  17. W

    Electrical Conductivity of Copper, Gold And Silver

    Copper ::: 60.7 x 106 S m^-1 Silver :::62.9 x 106 S m^-1 Gold :: 48.8 x 106 S m^-1 Why is the electrical Conductivity of these elements this way? I mean down the periodic table it should increase in case of GOLD but instead Gold is have far less value of Electrical Conductivity.
  18. M

    How to test a 1.5 pound magnesium anode

    Hello my name is Mike Moore and I work for Copperhead Industries, LLC We are a tracer wire manufacture for the underground non-metallic pipe utility sector, natural gas, water, sewer and telecom. We use magnesium anodes for grounding out the far end of the tracer wire system which completes...
  19. spareine

    Aluminium oxide surface and conductivity?

    Aluminium surfaces are protected by a thin aluminium oxide layer. The oxide layer supposedly does not conduct electricity. However, when measuring the contact resistance between the test pen of a multimeter and the aluminium, this resistance is always small. Why? Is the oxide layer easily punctured?
  20. Z

    Material with specific elec. conductivity

    Dear Friends, I am working on a project in which we need to shield an electrical field with a heavy 1 MHz component, at the same time, sparing the magnetic field as much as we can. With our limited knowledge, we came to the conclusion that a material with 10 kOhm conductivity would do this...
  21. G

    Confusion of the electrical conductivity unit in CGS.

    Hello. Electrical conductivity is written as \frac{n_{e}e^{2}}{m_{e}\nu_{ei}} where n_{e}, e, m_{e} and \nu_{ei} are for electron density, charge, mass and electron-ion collision frequency. According to Wikipedea, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_resistivity_and_conductivity Unit...
  22. P

    Electrical conductivity of a semiconductor

    Homework Statement Estimate the electrical conductivity, at 135°C, of silicon that has been doped with 3 x 1024 per meter cubed of aluminum atoms. Assume values for electron and hole mobilities of 0.03 and 0.007 m2/V-s, respectively. Homework Equations σ=|e|(ne*μe+nh*μh)...
  23. D

    How can the electrical conductivity of graphene be measured?

    I've tried searching for it but while there are a lot of hits on the fact that graphene's conductivity is high, there seem to be very few on how the conductivity is actually measured. Would you use the same method as you do with metal wires? Using cross sectional area, length, an ohmmeter...
  24. N

    Measuring the electrical conductivity of the atmosphere

    I am trying to devise a way to test the electrical conductivity/resistivity of the atmosphere through rising altitudes. The platform for the experiment is a NASA weather balloon with the allowance of a 1 kg payload. I have started by creating a sort of leaky capacitor design which involves the...
  25. M

    [Electromagnetic Fields] Electrical conductivity of a material

    Homework Statement Two inflnitely long, straight, parallel Wires are embedded in an infmite medium of conductivity 2 Sm-1. The wires are identical, with a round cross-section of radius 0.25 cm. The centres of the wires are 1 cm apart. Find the conductance per metre between the wires. A)...
  26. D

    Electrical conductivity of magnets

    My wife was asking me if magnets are conductors of electricity and I told her magnetite isn't. Then she asked me if an iron rod, after being magnetized is an electrical conductor. That got me stumped. I am thinking by right it shouldn't affect the electrical conductivity of the iron rod...
  27. E

    Dependence of electrical conductivity and electron mean free path on temperature

    I am investigating the microwave (say, 28 GHz to 30 GHz) reflection properties of a thin (say, 35 nm) film of aluminum that is being used to plate a graphite reflector antenna. I found a useful paper (R. C. Hansen and W. T. Pawlewicz, ``Effective conductivity and microwave reflectivity of thin...
  28. Y

    Electrical conductivity metals chart

    Hello, I'm trying to find a metal that has a conductivity that's about 150% that of stainless steel grade 384. I've been looking for some charts that compare conductivities of metals but all the charts I find seem to have a few discrepancies. Could someone give me a link to a reliable chart...
  29. S

    Electrical Conductivity of Fluids

    So it has always been my understanding that in order for something to electrically conductive it has to have more electrons than it needs. If the electrons can be easily shaken from their atoms, then it's conductive. The easier it is for the electron to move to the next atom the more conductive...
  30. P

    Electrical conductivity of solutions and titration curve question

    hi The following question I am stuck on: Some automatic titrators used in modern analytical laboratories measure the electrical conductivity of the solution in the flask as the titration proceeds. The equivalence point is determined by monitoring changes in the conductivity of the solution...
  31. J

    Electrical Conductivity Tensor

    If I'm given the components of an electrical conductivity tensor, how can I work out the directions in which the current is biggest and the directions in which no current flows?
  32. H

    How Does Electrical Conductivity Behave in Non-Uniform Conductors?

    Electrical conductivity ?? I have 3 doubts regarding the situation depicted in the attachment (sorry for my bad drawing). The diagram below shows an electrical conductor with the ends mantained at constant potentials (red higher than blue), and current density being shown by the black arrows...
  33. Y

    What does the electrical conductivity of the elements depends from?

    What does the electrical conductivity of the elements depends from?
  34. G

    Is there any way I can differentiate electrical conductivity?

    ...Kay, so I was doing [or trying to do] my homework, and it's pretty basic, actually. We're given a table comprising substances like "vegetable oil", "gatorade", "pencil lead", etc; and asked to predict its electrical conductivity. I tried Googling some of it, but nothing really relevant...
  35. X

    Help: Sensor Design - to measure Electrical Conductivity

    Hi Everyone, This is my first post here, so have mercy on me :redface: Project: Using a Non-Contact Probe (Sensor) To detect an unknown 1"x1" cube's (it can be steel, alumnium and plastic) Electrical Conductivity (EC) and hence decide its material. Measurement of EC must be in levels of HI...
  36. J

    What factors affect the temperature dependence of electrical conductivity?

    How do you with a simple model explain the temperature dependence of the electrical conductivity. If you use the Drude model you get for the electrical conductivity sigma = ne^2t / m where n is the density of mobile electrons and t is the relaxation time. t is the time between...
Back
Top