What are the factors affecting resistivity of a conductor ?
Answers
Question:
What are the factors affecting resistivity of a conductor?
Answer:
The factors affecting resistivity of a conductor are:
- The Material of Wire
- The Material of WireThe Length of Wire
- The Material of WireThe Length of WireThe Area of Cross Section of Wire
- The Material of WireThe Length of WireThe Area of Cross Section of WireThe Temperature of the Wire
Now, let's define all of them:
The Material of Wire
The resistance of a wire depends on the number of collisions which the electrons moving through it suffer with the other electrons and fixed positive ions of the wire. In different materials, the concentration of electrons and the arrangement of atoms are different, therefore, the resistance of wires of same length, same area of cross section, but of different materials differ depending on their material. Good conductors having higher concentration of free electrons (such as metals) offer less resistance.
The length of wire:
The number of collisions suffered by the moving electrons will be more if they have to travel a longer distance in a wire, therefore, a long wire offers more resistance than a short wire.
The area of cross section of wire:
In a thick wire, electrons get a larger area of cross section to flow as compared to a thin wire, therefore, a thick wire offers less resistance.
The temperature of the wire:
If the temperature of wire increases, ions in it vibrate more violently. As a result, the number of collisions increases and hence the resistance of wire increases.