3.7 Resistivity of Various Materials - Current Electricity - Class 12 Physics
3.7 Resistivity of Various Materials
The resistivities of various common materials are listed in Table 3.1. The materials are classified as conductors, semiconductors and insulators depending on their resistivities, in an increasing order of their values. Metals have low resistivities in the range of 10^−8 Ω m to 10^−6 Ω m. At the other end are insulators like ceramics, rubber and plastics having resistivities 10^18 times greater than metals or more. In between the two are the semiconductors. These, however, have resistivities characteristically decreasing with a rise in temperature. The resistivities of semiconductors are also affected by presence of small amount of impurities. This last feature is exploited in use of semiconductors for electronic devices.
Table 3.1 Resistivities of some materials
| Material | Resistivity, ρ (Ω m) at 0°C | Temperature coefficient of resistivity, α (°C)^−1 (1/ρ)(dρ/dT) at 0°C |
|---|---|---|
| Conductors | ||
| Silver | 1.6 × 10^−8 | 0.0041 |
| Copper | 1.7 × 10^−8 | 0.0068 |
| Aluminium | 2.7 × 10^−8 | 0.0043 |
| Tungsten | 5.6 × 10^−8 | 0.0045 |
| Iron | 10 × 10^−8 | 0.0065 |
| Platinum | 11 × 10^−8 | 0.0039 |
| Mercury | 98 × 10^−8 | 0.0009 |
| Nichrome (alloy of Ni, Fe, Cr) | ~100 × 10^−8 | 0.0004 |
| Manganin (alloy) | 48 × 10^-8 | 0.002 × 10^−3 |
| Semiconductors | ||
| Carbon (graphite) | 3.5 × 10^-5 | − 0.0005 |
| Germanium | 0.46 | − 0.05 |
| Silicon | 2300 | − 0.07 |
| Insulators | ||
| Pure Water | 2.5 × 10^5 | |
| Glass | 10^10 − 10^14 | |
| Hard Rubber | 10^13 − 10^16 | |
| NaCl | ~10^14 | |
| Fused Quartz | ~10^16 | |
These values of resistivities are not to be remembered by the students.
Commercially produced resistors for domestic use or in laboratories are of two major types:
wire bound resistors and
carbon resistors.
Wire bound resistors are made by winding the wires of an alloy, viz., manganin, constantan, nichrome or similar ones. The choice of these materials is dictated mostly by the fact that their resistivities are relatively insensitive to temperature. These resistances are typically in the range of a fraction of an ohm to a few hundred ohms.
Resistors in the higher range are made mostly from carbon. Carbon resistors are compact, inexpensive and thus find extensive use in electronic circuits. Carbon resistors are small in size and hence their values are given using a colour code.
Table 3.2 Resistor colour codes
| Colour | Number | Multiplier | Tolerance (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Black | 0 | 10^0 | |
| Brown | 1 | 10^1 | |
| Red | 2 | 10^2 | |
| Orange | 3 | 10^3 | |
| Yellow | 4 | 10^4 | |
| Green | 5 | 10^5 | |
| Blue | 6 | 10^6 | |
| Violet | 7 | 10^7 | |
| Gray | 8 | 10^8 | |
| White | 9 | 10^9 | |
| Gold | 10^−1 | 5 | |
| Silver | 10^−2 | 10 | |
| No colour | 20 | ||
Important note: To remember these values and the sequence of the colors, you may remember the following;
B B ROY of Grait Britain has a Very Good Wife.
Please pay attention only to the capitalized letters. By Dr T K Bansal.
The resistors have a set of co-axial coloured rings on them whose significance are listed in Table 3.2. The first two bands from the end indicate the first two significant figures of the resistance in ohms. The third band indicates the decimal multiplier (as listed in Table 3.2). The last band stands for tolerance or possible variation in percentage about the indicated values. Sometimes, this last band is absent and that indicates a tolerance of 20% (Fig. 3.8).
FIGURE 3.8 Colour coded resistors (a) (22 × 10^2 Ω) ± 10%, (b) (47 × 10 Ω) ± 5%.
For example, if the four colours are orange, blue, yellow and gold, the resistance value is 36 × 10^4 Ω, with a tolerence value of 5%.