What are electrical resistance, resistivity, conductance and conductivity?
Electrical resistance is the property of some materials to “resist” the flow of electricity through them. We define the resistance as the ratio of the applied voltage to the resulting current: R = I/V Where: R is Resistance (Ohms) I is Current (Amperes) V is Voltage (Volts) The term Resistance applies to a particular object such as a wire in an electric cable, light bulb or heating element. The term Resistivity is a general property of a material such as silver or copper. Resistivity is defined as the resistance of a 1 meter path through a cubic meter of a substance. The SEED Science Center has more information about The Electrical Resistivity of Materials as part of an article about using Resistivity for Electrical Logging for Oil which also includes an Experiment about Electrical Resistivity. The passage of current through material with resistance produces a transfer of energy from the current to the resistive element resulting in an increased temperature. This is why the heating ele
