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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 , but κ (especially in electrical engineering) [citation needed] and γ [citation needed] are sometimes used.
The ampacity of a conductor, that is, the amount of current it can carry, is related to its electrical resistance: a lower-resistance conductor can carry a larger value of current. The resistance, in turn, is determined by the material the conductor is made from (as described above) and the conductor's size.
Islamic Golden Age brass astrolabe Brass lectern with an eagle. Attributed to Aert van Tricht, Limburg (Netherlands), c. 1500.. Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, in proportions which can be varied to achieve different colours and mechanical, electrical, acoustic and chemical properties, [1] but copper typically has the larger proportion, generally 66% copper and 34% zinc.
The chemical elements can be broadly divided into metals, metalloids, and nonmetals according to their shared physical and chemical properties.All elemental metals have a shiny appearance (at least when freshly polished); are good conductors of heat and electricity; form alloys with other metallic elements; and have at least one basic oxide.
Bronze is a better conductor of heat and electricity than most steels. The cost of copper-base alloys is generally higher than that of steels but lower than that of nickel-base alloys. Bronzes are typically ductile alloys, considerably less brittle than cast iron.
where is the length of the conductor, measured in metres (m), A is the cross-sectional area of the conductor measured in square metres (m 2), σ is the electrical conductivity measured in siemens per meter (S·m −1), and ρ is the electrical resistivity (also called specific electrical resistance) of the material, measured in ohm-metres (Ω ...
However, when a large enough electric field is applied to any insulating substance, at a certain field strength the concentration of charge carriers in the material suddenly increases by many orders of magnitude, so its resistance drops and it becomes a conductor. This is called electrical breakdown. The physical mechanism causing breakdown ...
Copper has been used in electrical wiring since the invention of the electromagnet and the telegraph in the 1820s. [1] [2] The invention of the telephone in 1876 created further demand for copper wire as an electrical conductor. [3] Copper is the electrical conductor in many categories of electrical wiring.