Explain the variation of conductivity nwith temp for (a) A metallic conductor (b) ionic conductor
Effect on n: The electrons that are charge carriers in a conductor will gain energy and go into higher energy levels.
However, these energy levels are all still in the valance band. So the number of charge carriers will not change for a conductor with an increase in temperature.
Effect on q: As temperature increases, the charge on each carrier will not change.
Effect on m: Mobility is the drift velocity divided by the electric field strength.
Temperature won't affect the electric field strength.
But it will decrease the drift velocity because as the temperature increases, the atomic vibrations will increase, which will cause more collisions of the electrons with the crystal lattice. Hence the drift velocity will decrease.
The electrical conductivity of a metallic conductor will decrease with an increase in temperature.
The electrical conductivity of an ionic conductor will increase with an increase in temperature. The kinetic energy of the ions increases as the temperature is increased which increases the conductivity.