what are the properties of conductors that would make electricity flow in it?
101711
Electrons can reside in discrete energy levels. The Pauli exclusion principle says that only 2 electrons can occupy one energy level (but with different spin). However, in solids, the electrons get close enough to affect one another. Instead of levels, you wind up with "bands" in insulators, the valence electron and the conduction electron bands are separated by a forbidden energy gap. In conductors, the bands overlap. This means that it takes very little energy to knock an electron free, which in turn will knock another electron free, and so on.
333904
It depends on the Voltage.   Imagine an electron (which has known charge q = 1.6x10^-19 and mass m = 9.11x10^-31) that is inside a wire which is a perfect conductor.   Since the electron will move in a perfect conductor, all the potential energy given by the power source (Voltage * electron charge) will transform into kinetic energy (K = (m*v^2)/2), so:\n\n(m*v^2)/2 = V*q     ;     where v is the speed of the electron and V is the voltage\n\nWith this we get:   v = (2*V*q/m)^(1/2)\n\nAll the electrons would move at this same speed, and so the "speed of electricity" is given by the above formula.   For a voltage of 110V, the kind we have at home, the speed would be:\n\nv = 6'216,016.3 m/s\n\nCompared to the speed of light:\n\nc = 300'000,000 m/s\n\nThis analysis is for didactic purpouses, since for such high speeds we would need to consider relativistic effects.   Also, remember that we don't have perfect conductors, so the actual "speed of electricity" at 110V would be a lot less than the value shown above.\n\nI hope this answer was good enough.   :)
641855
wood is a bad conductor. therefore it will not conduct current. but presence of moisture(water content) will make it a good conductor. therefore, dry wood wont conduct currrent. but live plant & tree will conduct current.if current passes through the plant or tree, the wet wood of tree will provide resistance to the flow of electrons(you know that current is produced because of flow of electrons). you know that if resistance is offerred to the current, heat will be produced.\n           heat produced= (square of current)*resistance offered by the tree\n            you also know that every component has certain latent heat content. if the heat produced is more than the latent heat of the wood, tree will burn.
573262
Pure water is *not* a good conductor of electricity.  Dissolved ions are necessary to conduct electricity and at room temperature, there is only 10^-7 mol/L of H+ and OH- in pure water.\n\nDissolving salts (including strong acids) in water greatly increases the conductivity of the solution.\n\nTap water is a modest conductor of electricity because of dissolved ionic minerals and impurities.\n\nHeating water increases its dissociation constant making more H+ and OH- available in solution.
248482
Ohm's Law is always obeyed.\nIf a conductor is non-linear it has a coefficient of resistance - thermal, pressure, tensile, even voltage-dependent.\nMeasure the current thru it and the voltage across it and you have the instantaneous resistance at the time of measurement.\nThe law stands, but the result may not be static.
813210
No.\n\nIt is perfectly possible for electricity to flow even at absolute zero - those who think it is not need to revisit their understanding of what thermodynamic temperature is.\n\nSuperconductivity is a very special case, and you cannot form electrical impulses in a superconductor - in fact you cannot change the current flowing in a superconducting circuit at all without introducing a non-superconducting element (usually called a weak link).
43501
Its a Metal, hence responds to / is a conductor of heat.\n\nIts fluid so the expansion per gradient of heat would be highest.\n\n\nAll other liquids are not a conductor of heat ( or as good as mercury)
613535
Electricity is  flow of electrons in a conductive material like copper or any metals.  The atoms in the conductor are passing the electrons to the next atom in sequence (current flow in Ampere unit). \n\nAnalogy: \nYou can imagine people in line, passing balls in sequence to the next person until the balls reached the other end.\n\nThe force behind the movement of electrons (potential difference in Volt unit), is due to the excessive supply of electron (negative) from one end and lack of supply (Positive) from the other end. (They flow downstream like water).\n\nImagine if you connect two ends of wire to the positive and negative side of the battery. (But don't do it. That is called; short circuit)\n\nIf the wire is cut in the middle and you connect a light bulb between the two cut ends, The light bulb will glow. \n\nHere is the reason;\n\nBecause the light bulb filament (also a metal but doesn't melt easily) is smaller than the wire conductor and does not easily allow the passage of electron (resistance in Ohm unit), The flow of electron will be restricted to a certain amount (like a bottleneck in a pipe) this restriction will cause heat and light due to friction.\n\nMy best tailored answer for you ;=)
288186
Carbon and ceramics are good insulators.\n\nGood conductors are copper and gold, to name a few.
1102395
I think you mean the covalent chemical bonds seen in metals.\n\nThey give metals their ductile and malleable properties...that is they can be stretched into wires and pounded into shapes.\n\nSuch exampels would be gold, sodium, silver and copper.\n\nThese are much different than the ionic bonds found in salts.  Metallic bonds are very covalent, that is, they share electrons among nuclei.  This allows for nuclei to "slide" by each other...macroscopically this is the maleability and ductility.  The sharing of electrons also means electrons can flow easily, and thus metals are good conductors of electricity.\n\nIonic bonds have an electron transfer from one nuclei to another, and are much more rigid in their orientation (leading to brittle materials).
873969
The following is from Wikipedia:\n\n"In a normal conductor, an electrical current may be visualized as a fluid of electrons moving across a heavy ionic lattice. The electrons are constantly colliding with the ions in the lattice, and during each collision some of the energy carried by the current is absorbed by the lattice and converted into heat (which is essentially the vibrational kinetic energy of the lattice ions.) As a result, the energy carried by the current is constantly being dissipated. This is the phenomenon of electrical resistance."\n(See "superconductor")\n\nAs to length and disregarding superconductors, any unit length n of a material has the property of electrical resistance.  Since resistances in series add, a length 2n will have 2 times the resistance of a length n, etc.  Also see "resistance" in wikipedia, where rho is defined.
30605
Superconductors are a reality. A superconductor is a conductor that will conduct electricity without resistance below a certain temperature, decreasing the amount of energy lost during current flow. The theory is that if a metal with no resistance to current flow is used, the current will continue to flow in a continuous loop. This has yet to happen because of thermodynamic restrictions, but superconductors of very high efficiency are currently in use in MRI machines and trains.\n\nCheck out the website for more info. It's really interesting stuff.
482822
Mercury has a Rhombohedral crystal structure, which means that it is close packed.  The close packed structure of the mercury will have a greater efficiency in conducting electricity compared metals such as alkaline earth metals which are packed less efficiently having 8-co-ordinated structure.  The reason why it can conduct electricity well is because it is a metal containing atoms with relatively large numbers of free electrons and it is efficiently packed.  With such structure, the electrons flow from one atom to another when electrical field is passed through quite well.  Although it is not considered to be an ideal electrical conductor, Mercury is a fairly good conductor with electrical conductivity of 10.163 1/mohm-cm.
786008
research is currently being carried out on this area. materials which work better at room temperature and have similar properties to a semi conductor are already being developed. giveit another 25-30 years we may have some. who knows.....
888374
Conductors allow electricity to flow through them with little resistance.  Resistors resist the flow of electricity.
850017
Insulators do not have free electrons to conduct heat or electricity.\n\nMetals, on the other hand, DO have free electrons, and so conduct electricity and heat.  ALL elements can be classified as either conductors, semiconductors, or insulators, depending on how easily electrons will flow.\n\nThe only exception to this rule is diamond, which is an electrical insulator (no free electrons), but an excellent heat conductor.  (The reason is that heat can be transferred by atomic vibration of the diamond crystal lattice, but electricity cannot)
1146414
http://science.howstuffworks.com/electricity.htm