Electrical properties
Electrical conductivity
Permittivity
Dielectric constant
Dielectric strength
Piezoelectric constants
Seebeck coefficient
Electrical conductivity
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Not to be confused with electrical conductance, a measure of an object's or circuit's ability to conduct an
electric current between two points, which is dependent on the electrical conductivity and the geometric
dimensions of the conducting object.
Electrical conductivity or specific conductance is a measure of a material's ability to conduct an electric
current. When an electrical potential difference is placed across a conductor, its movable charges flow,
giving rise to an electric current. The conductivity σ is defined as the ratio of the current density J to the
electric field strength E:
It is also possible to have materials in which the conductivity is anisotropic, in which case σ is a 3×3
matrix (or more technically a rank-2 tensor), which is generally symmetric.
Conductivity is the reciprocal (inverse) of electrical resistivity, ρ, and has the SI units of siemens per
metre (S·m-1) and CGSE units of inverse second (s–1):
Electrical conductivity is commonly represented by the Greek letter σ, but κ (esp. in electrical
engineering) or γ are also occasionally used.
An EC meter is normally used to measure conductivity in a solution.
Contents
[hide]
1 Classification of materials by conductivity
2 Some electrical conductivities
3 Complex conductivity
4 Temperature dependence
5 See also
6 Notes and references
7 External links
[edit] Classification of materials by conductivity
A conductor such as a metal has high conductivity and a low resistivity.
An insulator like glass has low conductivity and a high resistivity.
The conductivity of a semiconductor is generally intermediate, but varies widely under different
conditions, such as exposure of the material to electric fields or specific frequencies of light, and,
most important, with temperature and composition of the semiconductor material.
The degree of doping in solid state semiconductors makes a large difference in conductivity. More
doping leads to higher conductivity. The conductivity of a solution of water is highly dependent on its
concentration of dissolved salts, and sometimes other chemical species that ionize in the solution.
Electrical conductivity of water samples is used as an indicator of how salt-free, ion-free, or impurity-
free the sample is; the purer the water, the lower the conductivity (the higher the resistivity).
Conductivity measurements in water are often reported as specific conductance, which is the
conductivity of the water at 25 °C.
[edit] Some electrical conductivities
Main article: Electrical resistivities of the elements (data page)
Electrical
Material Conductivity Notes
-1
(S·m )
Silver 63.0 × 106 Best electrical conductor of any known metal
Copper 59.6 × 106 Commonly used in electrical wire applications due to very good
conductivity and price compared to silver.
Referred to as 100% IACS or International Annealed Copper Standard. The
Annealed unit for expressing the conductivity of nonmagnetic materials by testing
58.0 × 106
Copper using the eddy-current method. Generally used for temper and alloy
verification of aluminium.
Gold is commonly used in electrical contacts because it does not easily
Gold 45.2 × 106
corrode.
Aluminium 37.8 × 106 Commonly used for high voltage electricity distribution cables[citation needed]
Sea water 4.8 Corresponds to an average salinity of 35 g/kg at 20 °C.[1]
Drinking This value range is typical of high quality drinking water and not an
0.0005 to 0.05
water indicator of water quality
Conductivity is lowest with monoatomic gases present; changes to 1.2 × 10-
Deionized
5.5 × 10-6 4
upon complete de-gassing, or to 7.5 × 10-5 upon equilibration to the
water
atmosphere due to dissolved CO2 [2]
Jet A-1 50 to 450 × 10- [3]
12
Kerosene
n-hexane 100 × 10-12
0.3 to 0.8 × 10- [4]
Air 14
[edit] Complex conductivity
To analyse the conductivity of materials exposed to alternating electric fields, it is necessary to treat
conductivity as a complex number (or as a matrix of complex numbers, in the case of anisotropic
materials mentioned above) called the admittivity. This method is used in applications such as electrical
impedance tomography, a type of industrial and medical imaging. Admittivity is the sum of a real
component called the conductivity and an imaginary component called the susceptivity.
An alternative description of the response to alternating currents uses a real (but frequency-dependent)
conductivity, along with a real permittivity. The larger the conductivity is, the more quickly the
alternating-current signal is absorbed by the material (i.e., the more opaque the material is). For details,
see Mathematical descriptions of opacity.
[edit] Temperature dependence
Electrical conductivity is strongly dependent on temperature. In metals, electrical conductivity decreases
with increasing temperature, whereas in semiconductors, electrical conductivity increases with
increasing temperature. Over a limited temperature range, the electrical conductivity can be
approximated as being directly proportional to temperature. To compare electrical conductivity
measurements at different temperatures, they must be standardized to a common temperature. This
dependence is often expressed as a slope in the conductivity-vs-temperature graph, which can be
written as:
where
σT′ is the electrical conductivity at a common temperature, T′
σT is the electrical conductivity at a measured temperature, T
α is the temperature compensation slope of the material,
T is the measured absolute temperature,
T′ is the common temperature.
The temperature compensation slope for most naturally occurring waters is about 2 %/°C, however it
can range between (1 to 3) %/°C. This slope is influenced by the geochemistry, and can be easily
determined in a laboratory.
At extremely low temperatures (not far from absolute zero), a few materials have been found to exhibit
very high electrical conductivity in a phenomenon called superconductivity.
[edit] See also
