MATERIALS THAT HAVE LITTLE RESISTANCE TO THE PASSAGE OF ELECTRICITY - CHEMISTRY - 2025

Some of the materials with little resistance to the passage of electricity are silver, gold, copper, aluminum, brass or saline solutions. In general, metals are good conductors of electricity.

Conductor is called any material that allows a continuous flow of electricity, they are normally used in the form of cables or wires. They are capable of offering very low resistance to the movement of an electrical charge through them.

For this reason, they are used to send current from one element to another. Today, conductors are used in numerous devices and media that work thanks to electricity.

The most efficient electrical conductors are mostly metals. However, some non-metals such as graphite or salt solutions can also be good conductors.

Materials with low electrical resistance

1- Silver

It is the best conductor of electricity known. Silver is the most conductive material (under normal conditions) present in nature, it is malleable and resistant.

However, its use as a conductor is very scarce, due to its high price compared to copper, much cheaper and with a conductivity close to that of silver.

2- Copper

Copper is the most widely used electrical conductor in the world, present in 90% of conventional electrical installations.

It is an easy material to weld and mold in the form of cables, sheets or plates. It is the second material with the highest conductivity and its cost is significantly lower than the plate.

3- Gold

This precious metal is the third most efficient material for conducting electricity. It is often said to be the best conductor there is, although this is not true, its durability and resistance to corrosion make it more reliable than copper and silver, which tend to oxidize.

Its high price means that it is little used, however it is present in electronic circuits, terminals or cables for digital connections, such as high definition ones.

4- Aluminum

Another widely used conductor, since although its conductivity is only 60% that of copper, it has only 30% of its weight.

This makes it ideal for light and inexpensive installations. It presents some problems, such as oxidation and brittleness, so when used in wiring it is usually accompanied by steel coatings for protection.

5- Brass

An alloy formed by copper and zinc, it is very elastic and easy to mold. For this reason it is widely used for small electronic devices.

6- Saline solutions

Some salts dissolved in water can become good electrical conductors. They have different applications such as electrolysis processes.

7- Iron

Thanks to its abundance and low cost, iron is used as a conductor on various occasions. Of the conductors, it is probably the most versatile, thanks to its physical characteristics such as its resistance, toughness and malleability.

8- Superconductors

Some materials may have zero resistance to the passage of electrical currents when subjected to low temperatures.

Certain metals, carbons, and ceramics have superconducting capabilities. Its application is usually limited to electromagnets, for example in maglev type trains and magnetic resonances.

Lithium, gallium, lead, zinc and tin are materials capable of acting as superconductors.

References

1. CERN «Superconductivity» in: CERN (2017) Retrieved in 2017 from
2. Charles P. Poole, Horacio A. Farach, Richard J. Creswick, Ruslan Prozorov (2014) Superconductivity. The Netherlands: Elsevier.
3. Barrie Charles Blake-Coleman (1992) Copper Wire and Electrical Conductors. United States: CRC Press.
4. Victoria Gorski "What Metals Make Good Conductors of Electricity?" in Sciencing (2017) Recovered in 2017 from sciencing.com.
5. The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica «Noble metal» in: Encyclopædia Britannica (2016) Recovered in 2017 from britannica.com.