# Resistivity Formula

Simply resistivity or Electrical resistivity is the resistance of the flow of current from one end to the other in a material. Electrical resistivity is a simply accessible and informative quantity to describe the material. It is the reciprocal of electrical conductivity. The resistivity is represented as ρ and it is directly proportional to the material resistance and length. Resistivity is inversely proportional to the area of cross-section of the given material. The resistivity formula is expressed as

$\rho\,&space;=\,&space;\frac{RA}{l}$

Where ρ is the resistivity, R is the resistance, l is the length of the material and A is the area of cross-section.

Resistivity Solved Examples

Problem 1: Compute the resistivity of the given material whose resistance is 2Ω; area of cross-section and length are 25cm2 and 15cm respectively?

Given

R = 2Ω

l = 15cm = 0.15m

A = 25cm2 = 0.25m2

Resistivity formula is

$\rho\,&space;=\,&space;\frac{RA}{l}$

$\rho\,&space;=\,&space;\frac{2\times&space;0.25}{0.15}\,&space;=\,&space;3.333\Omega&space;m$

Problem 2: The length and area of wire are given as 0.2m and 0.5m2 respectively. The resistance of that wire is 3Ω, Calculate the resistivity?

Given

R = 3Ω

l = 0.2m and

A = 0.5m2

Resistivity formula is

$\rho\,&space;=\,&space;\frac{RA}{l}$

$\rho\,&space;=\,&space;\frac{3\times&space;0.5}{0.2}\,&space;=\,&space;7.5\Omega&space;m$