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Does a conductor offer very little resistance to the flow of electric current?
Wiki User
∙ 11y ago
If you lower the temperature, the conductor carrying the flow of charge will offer less resistance. An example would be to cool the wire with liquid nitrogen. At this temperature, your wire would offer very little resistance. Of course, to understand the answer you must know what resistance is - it is molecular friction. In the case of conductivity, it is the amount of energy used to bump an electron from one atom to the next. The hotter the conductor, the more energy is required to generate current. And consequently, when your wire gets to hot, it will melt. When energy is used to generate a current, energy is also lost in the form of heat. Now when you cool the conductor to extreme low temperates, it is very akin to adding oil to an engine. The better the grade of oil, the better the engine runs and the less the wear and tear on the engine caused by friction and heat.
Also, if you increase the cross sectional area and decrease the length of the wire, it will lower the electrical resistance of the wire - naturally. But what if you can't do that? What if you have to transfer a certain power requirement over a certain distance? Then you would try to find a way to lower the temperature of the wire. One such way to do this is to run the wire through the ground. After a certain depth, the average temperature underground is around fifty degrees. Also, if you run DC through the wire instead of AC, a great deal of less energy is lost. The one and only reason power companies don't do this is that it is much easier to step up and step down voltages with AC than it is to do so with DC. As far as running wire underground, although it is done in major metropolitan areas such as New York, it is not cost effective. It is far more cost effective for both construction and maintenance to run wire above ground. Yet the ironic thing is that, in the end, we still spend more money on power transmission because we choose NOT to lower resistance in a wire.
In your hypothetical dream world where every wire is surrounded in nitrogen to bring the resistance down, what is this going to cost the consumer? The student asked "What would lower electrical resistance of a wire?" Short and sweet answer. Increasing the cross sectional area and shorten the length of the wire. If you have to to transfer a certain power requirement over a certain distance then you increase the conductor size to overcome the I squared R loss. How do transmission companies lower the temperature of their wires. They don't. The cables are sized to the calculated load. Wiring in the real world is much different than experimental wiring in a laboratory
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Increasing the cross sectional area and shorten the length of the wire.
Wiki User
∙ 11y ago
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What is the meaning of a good conducter of electricity?
A good conductor will pass electricity with little or no resistance. Resistance will cause the voltage to drop as the current increases. The least resistance will cause the least drop in voltage and is therefore a good conductor.
Is a table mat conductor or an insulator?
Have a little think about what the purpose of a table mat is and you'll get your answer.
A material that transmits nearly all the light in a ray because it offers little resistance to the light is?
A material that transmits nearly all the light in a ray because it offers little resistance to the light is called transparency.
How does conductors allow heat to go through?
Heat energy can be transfered through a conductor or medium, in three ways. Radiation, which is how the sun transfers energy, through waves. Convection, which is how wind works, the transfer of heat by mixing particles together. Conduction, which is how your hand warms up when someone touches it. The particles transfer their heat energy to adjacent particles.
What do you call things that that have little air resistance?
aerodynamic - you may want to check the spelling.
Do conductors offer little resistance to the flow of electric current?
Yes- you have suggested a correct working definition for a conductor.
Do electric conductors block electricity?
NO! Although its no, every conductor has resistance that blocks little current and dissipates in the form of heat. Its negligible in conductor. Eg: silver has lowest resistance compared to iron
What is a material with little resitance to electric current called?
This is called a conductor.
What is an electric conductor and insulator?
An electrical insulator is a material that resists electric current, and will not allow it to flow easily. Examples include glass and most ceramics. An electrical conductor is a material that offers very little resistance to electric current, allowing it to flow freely and easily. Most metals make excellent electrical conductors.
What is an electric circuit with little or no resistance?
A: As current approaches infinity on a device it is known as a current source.
What is the meaning of a good conducter of electricity?
A good conductor will pass electricity with little or no resistance. Resistance will cause the voltage to drop as the current increases. The least resistance will cause the least drop in voltage and is therefore a good conductor.
Why does the skin effect in radio frequency caused?
Skin effect is the tendency of an alternating electric current (AC) to distribute itself within a conductor so that the current density near the surface of the conductor is greater than that at its core. That is, the electric current tends to flow at the "skin" of the conductor, at an average depth called the skin depth. The skin effect causes the effective resistance of the conductor to increase with the frequency of the current because much of the conductor does little. Skin effect is due to eddy currents set up by the AC current. At 60 Hz in copper, skin depth is about a centimetre. At high frequencies skin depth is much smaller.
Does charge get redistributed over the surface of conductor why?
You need to define your querstion a little more. Are we talking about an electric current, or a static charge?
Do conductors offer very little resistant to the flow of electric current?
Yes- you have suggested a correct working definition for a conductor.
How would you descibe a good conductor?
Something that conducts electricity with little resistance. one really good conductor is metal.
Why are AC and DC resistance different?
An AC current tends to flow towards the surface of a conductor due to a phenomenon called the 'skin effect', which acts to reduce the effective cross-sectional area of that conductor.Since resistance is directly-proportional to the cross-sectional area of a conductor, the conductor's resistance to an AC current is, therefore, higher than its resistance to a DC current (which distributes itself across the full cross-sectional area). We call this elevated value of resistance, AC resistance.The skin effect increases with frequency to such an extent that, at radio frequencies, there is little point in using solid conductors and tubes are used instead. At mains' frequencies (50/60 Hz), however, the skin effect is moderate and, so, the value of a conductor's AC resistance is only slightly elevated compared to its true resistance.It's important not to confuse the term 'AC resistance' with 'reactance', which is a function of a conductor's inductance and/or capacitance, and the frequency of the supply.
What is the term for an electric charge that does move?
That is called an electric current. Actually, defining an electric current as a "movement of charge" is a little simplistic, but movement of charge is certainly an important part.That is called an electric current. Actually, defining an electric current as a "movement of charge" is a little simplistic, but movement of charge is certainly an important part.That is called an electric current. Actually, defining an electric current as a "movement of charge" is a little simplistic, but movement of charge is certainly an important part.That is called an electric current. Actually, defining an electric current as a "movement of charge" is a little simplistic, but movement of charge is certainly an important part.
