Copper has the best electrical conductivity of any metal, except silver. A good electrical conductivity is the same as a small electrical resistance. An electric current will flow through all metals, however they still have some resistance, meaning the current needs to be pushed (by a battery) in order to keep flowing.

Usually, electrical conductors have loosely bound electrons. Materials that conduct heat are thermal conductors. Metals typically conduct both heat and electricity. Carbon conducts ​electricity as graphite, but insulates as diamond, so the form or allotrope of a material can be important.

The characteristic of metals that makes them good electrical conductors is the free valence electrons in the metallic bonds between metallic atoms.

Copper has greater conductivity compared to aluminum, which leads to smaller (diameter) conductors being required for use. Due to its high ductile properties, copper can be formed into very fine wire. This adds to the versatility of copper wire. Copper has a high tensile strength.

Metals such as copper typify conductors, while most non-metallic solids are said to be good insulators, having extremely high resistance to the flow of charge through them. In copper, the valence electrons are essentially free and strongly repel each other.

Gold is not used for making electric wires because it is too rare, and too costlier than Copper. Silver and copper are used for making wires. But, gold is too costlier than these two.

The most electrically conductive element is silver, followed by copper and gold. Although it is the best conductor, copper and gold are used more often in electrical applications because copper is less expensive and gold has a much higher corrosion resistance.

Metals conduct electricity easily and the best conductor out of these are silver. The reason behind it is that in silver, there are electrons free to move than those in other elements which results in it to be the best conductor of electricity followed by Copper and Gold. Hence, option (D) is the correct option.

Top Ten Conductors

• Arturo Toscanini. 76 votes. (7%)
• Sir Thomas Beecham. 57 votes. (5.3%)
• Sir Malcolm Sargent. 29 votes. (2.7%)
• Herbert von Karajan. 219 votes. (20.2%)
• Sir Georg Solti. 116 votes. (10.7%)
• Leonard Bernstein. 201 votes. (18.6%)
• André Previn. 64 votes. (5.9%)
• Sir Simon Rattle. 229 votes. (21.1%)

Copper is a good conductor of heat. This means that if you heat one end of a piece of copper, the other end will quickly reach the same temperature. Most metals are pretty good conductors; however, apart from silver, copper is the best.

Gold, Silver, Copper, Aluminium, Iron etc are good heat conductors as well as electrical conductors.

Silver, a precious metal, is the only metal with a higher electrical conductivity than copper. The electrical conductivity of silver is 106% of that of annealed copper on the IACS scale, and the electrical resistivity of silver = 15.9 nΩ•m at 20°C.

Stainless steel is a relatively good conductor of electricity, as are all metals.

mercury

Metals are the most conductive and insulators (ceramics, wood, plastics) the least conductive. Electrical conductivity tells us how well a material will allow electricity to travel through it. Many people think of copper wires as something that has great electrical conductivity.

Brass is only 28% as conductive as copper. Some bronzes are as low as 7% as conductive as copper!…Electrical Conductivity of Materials.

Manufacturers use forged brass to cast brass electrical accessories as this material offers more tensile strength. Also, the corrosion resistance, machinability, and ductility are also dependent on the amount of zinc and copper used for preparing forged brass.

This extremely useful metal is No. 28 in the periodic table of the elements, between the elements cobalt and copper. Nickel is a fairly good conductor of electricity and heat and is one of only four elements (cobalt, iron, nickel and gadolinium) that are ferromagnetic (magnetized easily) at room temperature.