Electrical resistivity and conductivity ions. In biological membranes, currents are carried by ionic salts. Small holes in cell membranes, called ion channels, are selective to specific ions and determine the membrane resistance. The electrical resistivity of a metallic conductor decreases gradually as temperature is lowered. In ordinary conductors, such as copper or silver, this decrease is limited by impurities and other defects. Even near absolute zero, a real sample of a normal conductor shows some resistance. In a superconductor, the resistance drops abruptly to zero when the material is cooled below its critical temperature. An electric current flowing in a loop of superconducting wire
Wiedemann–Franz law the Wiedemann–Franz law. A Berkeley-led study in 2016 by Lee "et al." also found a large violation of the Wiedemann–Franz law near the insulator-metal transition in VO nanobeams. In the metallic phase, the electronic contribution to thermal conductivity was much smaller than what would be expected from the Wiedemann–Franz law. The results can be explained in terms of independent propagation of charge and heat in a strongly correlated system. Wiedemann–Franz law In physics, the Wiedemann–Franz law states that the ratio of the electronic contribution of the thermal conductivity ("κ") to the electrical conductivity ("σ") of a metal is proportional to