Experiments with magnets and conductors
Types of conductors and their properties
Many types of materials can conduct electricity.
Take these materials listed here and put them in order from lowest to highest with respect to their densities, that is, mass per unit volume:
aluminum, copper, gold, iron, lead, mercury, silver, water, zinc
If you were to put the metals in order from best to worst in terms of their electrical conductivity property, how would the list go? Remember, the lower the resistivity, the higher the conductivity.
Now, how does the product of (density * resistivity) compare? This is a way to determine the ratio of the best conductor with the lowest density. The lower the density, the lighter it is; and the lower the resistivity, the better conductor it is.
Ready to check your answer?
This information is useful to figure out how the next experiment
works: Pendulum.