Beatrice Lang
Materials that allow electricity to flow through them are known as conductors. Metals are common electrical conductors because they have free-moving electrons. Materials with many free electrons are good conductors. For example, copper and silver are good conductors because they have the least resistance. On the other hand, materials that do not allow electricity to flow through them easily are known as insulators. Examples of insulators include wood, glass, plastic, and rubber.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Name of materials | Metals |
| Types of metals | Copper, aluminium, silver, lead, tin |
| Other materials | No |
| How they work | They have free electrons that can move between atoms |
| Metals have a low resistance | |
| They have a neat row of positive ions with free electrons moving between them | |
| Insulators | Opposite of conductors; non-metals like plastic, rubber, glass, and wood |
| Resistivity | A measure of the material's ability to oppose electric current |
| Resistance | Like traffic, it slows down the flow of electricity |
| Semiconductors | In between conductors and insulators |
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What You'll Learn
Metals are good electrical conductors
Metals with more free electrons, like copper or silver, are excellent conductors with minimal resistance. This is because the outer electrons in these metals are weakly bound and can move relatively freely from atom to atom. On the other hand, metals with fewer free electrons, like lead or tin, have higher resistance and do not conduct electricity as efficiently.
The conductivity of a metal also depends on its temperature and geometry. Temperature affects the efficacy of conductors by influencing the expansion or contraction of the material, which changes the geometry and, consequently, the resistance. An increase in temperature also generates more phonons, which are lattice vibrations that disrupt the path of electrons, causing them to scatter.
In summary, metals are good electrical conductors due to their unique atomic structure, which allows for the presence of free electrons. The number of free electrons and the resistance of the metal influence the efficiency of its conductivity. Additionally, external factors such as temperature play a role in the conductivity of metals. Understanding the properties of metals as conductors is essential for various applications, from powering our everyday devices to designing electrical circuits.
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Insulators are poor conductors
Insulators are materials that do not conduct electricity or heat easily. They are the opposite of conductors, which allow electricity or heat to pass through them with ease. Insulators have high resistance, making it difficult for electrical current to flow through them. This is because they have very few free electrons. Electrons that are bound to the nucleus cannot flow through the material.
Conductors, on the other hand, have low resistance and many free electrons, allowing for the free flow of electrons and, consequently, electricity. Metals are good conductors of electricity due to their structure. They are made of rows of positive ions, or atoms that have lost their outer electrons, with a sea of free electrons that can move between them. These free electrons are not tied to one place and can move throughout the metal when a potential difference is applied, creating an electric current.
Materials such as copper, silver, and aluminium are good conductors of electricity due to their high number of free electrons. Conversely, metals with fewer free electrons, like lead or tin, have higher resistance and do not conduct electricity as well.
Insulators, including rubber, glass, plastic, and wood, are used to cover electrical wires to prevent electricity from escaping. They are poor conductors of electricity, which makes them ideal for electrical insulation. For example, plastic is used to wrap electrical wires, ensuring that we don't get an electric shock when we touch it.
In summary, insulators are poor conductors of electricity due to their high resistance and low number of free electrons, while conductors excel at conducting electricity due to their low resistance and abundance of free electrons.
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Temperature affects conductors
Materials that allow electrical currents to flow through them are known as conductors. Metals are generally good electrical conductors because they have many free electrons that are not bound to atoms and can move through the material. Examples of metals that are good electrical conductors include copper and aluminium.
However, in metal conductors, increasing the temperature usually results in a decrease in conductivity or an increase in resistivity. This is because the positive ions inside the metal conductor vibrate more as the temperature increases, and the thermal speed of the electrons increases, resulting in increased resistance.
The effect of temperature on conductivity also depends on the material or solution. For example, when the temperature of a liquid increases, molecular movement increases, which prevents heat transportation through the liquid, leading to a decrease in thermal conductivity.
Additionally, at very cold temperatures, superconductivity can occur, where superconductors allow electricity to pass through with very little electrical resistance.
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Superconductors
The phenomenon of superconductivity was first discovered in 1911 by Dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, who observed it in mercury cooled to cryogenic temperatures. Soon after, he attempted to make an electromagnet with superconducting windings but found that relatively low magnetic fields destroyed superconductivity in the materials. However, in 1955, G. B. Yntema successfully constructed a small iron-core electromagnet with superconducting niobium wire windings.
The critical temperature of a superconductor is the temperature below which it exhibits zero electrical resistance. For conventional superconductors, this critical temperature is very low, typically close to absolute zero. However, certain materials, known as high-temperature superconductors, exhibit superconductivity at much higher temperatures. These materials, such as cuprate-perovskite ceramics, still need to be cooled but can be superconducting at temperatures above liquid nitrogen.
In 2025, MIT physicists discovered a new type of superconductor that also exhibits magnetism. This "chiral superconductor" was found in rhombohedral graphene, which is made from stacked layers of graphene, the primary material in pencil lead. This discovery challenges the previous belief that magnetism and superconductivity could not coexist in a single material.
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Semiconductors
The electrical behaviour of semiconductors is dictated by their unique band structure. They possess a conduction band and a valence band, with the latter being full of electrons. However, the valence band also contains some empty states, known as "holes", which carry a positive charge. Electrons can jump into these holes, and the combination of electrons and holes can result in the emission of light or the generation of heat.
The doping process involves adding small amounts of impurities to the pure elements, significantly altering their conductivity. When doped with Group V elements, semiconductors exhibit "n-type" behaviour, creating free electrons. Conversely, doping with Group III elements results in "p-type" behaviour, leading to the creation of free holes.
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