Electrical resistivity and conductivity conductivity in a solution. A rough summary is as follows: This table shows the resistivity (ρ), conductivity and temperature coefficient of various materials at 20 °C (68 °F, 293 K) The effective temperature coefficient varies with temperature and purity level of the material. The 20 °C value is only an approximation when used at other temperatures. For example, the coefficient becomes lower at higher temperatures for copper, and the value 0.00427 is commonly specified at . The extremely low resistivity (high conductivity) of silver is characteristic of metals. George Gamow tidily summed up the nature of the metals' dealings with
Electrical resistivity and conductivity inside the conductor. Conductivity is the inverse (reciprocal) of resistivity. Here, it is given by: For example, rubber is a material with large "ρ" and small "σ"—because even a very large electric field in rubber makes almost no current flow through it. On the other hand, copper is a material with small "ρ" and large "σ"—because even a small electric field pulls a lot of current through it. As shown below, this expression simplifies to a single number when the electric field and current density are constant in the material. When the resistivity of a material has a directional component,