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Why electrical conductivity of metals decrease with increase of temperature?
Wiki User
∙ 11y ago
The reason for this very behaviour of metals is explained by the fact that at random, the free electrons moving in a metallic object (say wire) also collide with the atoms contained in the wire. Due to these collisions, their kinetic energy is wasted to some extent.
When the temperature of such a metallic wire is increased, their collisions with the containing atoms become more frequent and ultimately more energy is wasted. This obviously reduce their thermal and electrical conductivity.
Wiki User
∙ 13y ago
Wiki User
∙ 11y agoAs temperature increases then the core of the atoms positively charged would vibrate with greater amplitude and so its field would enlarge and so electrons would be gripped often. So conductivity would get reduced.
Wiki User
∙ 11y agoConductivity is a measure of how easily electrons can flow through a conductor.This is dependent on how much the atoms in the conductor are moving around relative to one another.
At low temperatures the atoms in the conductor are arranged in a regular pattern and they hardly move around relative to one another, allowing spare electrons to jump easily from atom to atom. We can say that the conductors conductivity would be relatively good.
However, as a conductor heats up the atoms its made from increase in energy level and this causes them to start moving about randomly, with this movement getting faster and faster as the temperature increases, making it harder and harder for the electrons to easily find adjacent atoms to jump to, thus impeding the smooth flow of electrons from atom to atom and therefore reducing the conductors conductivity.
Inversely, if you cool a conductor down you reduce the energy level of the atoms its made from and this reduces movement of the atoms relative to one another and the conductivity increases.
If you keep on cooling, eventually you will reach absolute zero, the lowest temperature its possible to reach.
At absolute zero the atoms in the conductor stop moving relative to one another altogether...they actually freeze in position.
Now there is no impedance at all to the flow of electrons as it is extremely easy for them to jump from atom to atom...This is called superconductivity.
The holy grail for cutting edge science is trying to find a superconductor that does not need cooling down to absolute zero before it becomes superconductive.
Ideally they hope to find one that works at room temperature and extensive research into this field is still going on right across the world right now.
Wiki User
∙ 16y agoIncrease in resistance.
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The conductivity depends on the passage of charged particles especially electrons. In metals electrons are easily available in conduction band and so its conductivity is high. As we increase the temperature then core of atoms vibrate largely. So with positive charge it could easily minimize the electrons in the conduction band and hence fall in conductivity In case of semiconductor there will be usually forbidden gap between valence band and conduction band. So conduction is poor at ordinary temperature. But as we increase temperature that would allow electrons to reach conduction band as covalent bonds get broken. Hence higher conductivity
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Why electrical conductivity of metals decrease with increase in temperature?
The reason for this very behaviour of metals is explained by the fact that at random, the free electrons moving in a metallic object (say wire) also collide with the atoms contained in the wire. Due to these collisions, their kinetic energy is wasted to some extent. When the temperature of such a metallic wire is increased, their collisions with the containing atoms become more frequent and ultimately more energy is wasted. This obviously reduce their thermal and electrical conductivity.
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An increase in temperature will cause an increase in volume, while a decrease in temperature will cause a decrease in volume.
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