Electrical conductor

An electrical conductor is a material or object that permits electric charge to move through it. Its conductivity arises from mobile charge carriers, such as electrons in metals or ions in electrolytes.

Electric current: Electric current is the rate at which electric charge passes a point or through a surface. A conductor carries current when an electric field drives its mobile charges.
Electron: An electron is a negatively charged subatomic particle found in atoms and capable of carrying electric charge. Mobile electrons carry charge through metals and many solid conductors.
Electrical wire: Electrical wire is a metal conductor, usually insulated, designed to carry current between circuit points. It is the familiar manufactured form of a conductor used to route current.
Electrical insulator: An electrical insulator is a material that strongly resists the movement of electric charge. It is the direct counterpart to a conductor in how readily charge moves.
Joule heating: Joule heating is the production of heat when electric current passes through a material with resistance. Resistance in practical conductors converts part of electrical energy into heat.
Electrical resistance: Electrical resistance quantifies how strongly a component opposes electric current. Resistance measures how much a particular conductor impedes charge flow.
Ion: An ion is an atom or molecule with a net electric charge from losing or gaining electrons. Ions carry current through electrolytes and other ionic conductors.
Printed circuit board: A printed circuit board supports electronic components and connects them with patterned conductive tracks. Its copper tracks act as shaped conductors linking circuit components.
Resistivity: Resistivity is an intrinsic measure of how strongly a material opposes electric current. It describes the inverse material property to electrical conductivity.
Electrical resistivity and conductivity: Electrical resistivity and conductivity are reciprocal measures of a material’s opposition to and support of electric current. These properties determine how much a conductor heats and loses energy for a given current.

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