Which term is defined as the ease with which a substance transmits electricity?

• A. Conductor
• B. Conductivity
• C. Capacitor
• D. Circuit

Answer: (B)

How easily electricity flows through a material is described by its conductivity. Conductivity is a material property, measured in siemens per meter (S/m), that tells you how readily charge carriers move when an electric field is applied. The higher the conductivity, the easier current passes through the substance; metals like copper have high conductivity, while many plastics have very low conductivity.

Conductivity is the reciprocal of resistivity, linking to resistance with formulas that connect geometry: resistance scales with rho times length over area (R = rho * L/A), while conductance scales with sigma times area over length (G = sigma * A/L). This relationship explains why materials with higher sigma yield lower resistance for the same shape.

A conductor refers to a material that conducts well, but it’s a noun rather than a measure. A capacitor is a device that stores electric energy, and a circuit is a closed path for current.