Definition, Causes of Resistivity and Conductivity

In physics, we have to study the electrical mechanism in theory and practical work. Resistance and conductivity are physical quantities used in electrical mechanics and especially in quantum mechanics.

 The article introduces the concepts of resistivity and conductivity. It will describe the property of resistivity and further exemplify its causes with reality for current and SI unit measurements in detail. You will study different resistivity materials and provide information for selecting appropriate materials used for building motors, electrical circuits, dielectrics, resistive heating, and superconducting applications.

Resistivity

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. 

A low resistivity implies a substance that readily authorises electric current. 

Resistivity is defined by the Greek letter ρ (rho).

Resistivity helps distinguish various substances based on their capacity to conduct electric currents. High resistivity assigns bad conductors. 

Causes of resistivity 

• Free electrons in a conductor cause resistance. These free electrons collide with each other and with ions and atoms that oppose their free direction.
• Extreme metals maintain electrical resistance. Simpler or non-quantum mechanical norms can clarify this by rehabilitating electrons and the crystal lattice—the wave-like system. 
• When the electron wave moves through the lattice, the waves interfere, which causes resistance.
• A slight disturbance occurs in the lattice form; therefore, slight resistance occurs. 
• The quantity of resistance is thus mainly caused by two factors. 
• First, it is affected by the temperature and therefore, amounts of crystal lattice show vibration. 

Higher temperatures cause more considerable vibrations, which act as exceptions in the lattice. 

• Second, the integrity of the metal is applicable.

A mixture of various ions is also an abnormality.

• The feedback of materials to alternating electric fields in applications such as electrical impedance tomography helps restore resistivity with a complex quantity called impedivity in analogy to electrical impedance. Impedivity exists as the sum of a major element, the resistivity, and an imaginary element, the reactivity, in analogy to reactance.
• The connection between resistance and the cross-section area of a wire is inversely proportional when resistance rises in a circuit—for example, enlarging extra electrical elements to the current drops. 
• It is clear that if the resistivity is greater, then the electric field needs to generate a large current density.
• Similarly, If the resistivity is low, the electric field is needed to generate the lowest current density.
• A material’s resistivity is vital as it enables suitable materials to be used in the right situation in electrical and electronic components. For example, in electrical and general connecting wires, materials used as conductors need to have a low resistivity level.

The SI unit of electrical resistivity is the ohm-metre (Ω⋅m).

Conductivity

Electrical conductivity or specific conductance is the reciprocal of electrical resistivity. 

It illustrates a substance’s capacity to conduct electric current. 

It is symbolised by the Greek word σ (sigma), but κ (kappa) and γ (gamma) are occasionally used.

Conductivity is helpful as a universal estimate of water quality. Each water body tends to have a relatively consistent range of conductivity that, once stabilised, can be utilised as a baseline for comparison with formal conductivity distributions.

A significant portion of band theory is that there may be forbidden energy bands: energy intervals that include no energy levels.

In insulators and semiconductors, the amount of electrons is the exact quantity to compress a specific number of low energy bands, exactly to the boundary. In this case, the Fermi level falls within a bandgap. 

Since there are no free states near the Fermi level, and the electrons are not freely transferable, the electronic conductivity is very low.

The slight reduction in conductivity on the melting of pure metals is due to the loss of long-range crystalline order. 

In particular cases, the conductivity must be formulated as a complex number or even as a matrix of complex numbers, in the case of anisotropic materials called the admittivity. 

Admittivity is the sum of an essential component called conductivity and an imaginary component called susceptivity.

Reality for current 

• Conductivity estimates how effortlessly an electric current can flow through a given substance. 
• For a provided electric field in a substance, a greater conductivity substance will generate more current flow than a low conductivity substance.
• Conductivity is a distribution of the ability of an aqueous solution to transmit an electrical current.
• Ions carry current, and therefore the conductivity rises with the concentration of ions present in their mobility and the water.
• The SI unit of electrical conductivity is siemens per metre (S/m).

Conclusion

The resistivity of materials is important as it enables the right materials to be used in the right places in electrical and electronic components. Materials used as conductors, for example, in electrical and general connecting wires, are wired to be able to have a low level of resistivity.

Similarly, electrical conductivity plays a vital role in various industrial techniques. It implies the extent to which an element enables electricity to flow through it. 

Most metallic substances containing iron and copper are electrical conductors that transmit electric currents. Resistivity is significant when differentiating substances because it is an intrinsic property.