Conductance for Dummies

Hey there! I'm here to help you understand what "conductance" means. So, imagine you have two points in space, let's call them point A and point B. Conductance is a measure of how easily electricity can flow between these two points.

Now, think of electricity as a stream of tiny moving particles called electrons. Just like how water flows through a pipe, electrons can flow through materials that allow them to pass. Conductance tells us how well a material allows electrons to flow through it.

If you think about it, some materials like metals, such as copper or gold, allow electricity to pass through them really easily. They have high conductance. It's like having a wide-open highway for the electrons to zoom along.

On the other hand, some materials, like rubber or plastic, don't let electricity flow through them as easily. They have low conductance. It's like driving on a narrow, winding road with lots of obstacles, making it harder for the electrons to move around.

So, in simpler terms, conductance is a measure of how well a material allows electricity to flow through it. If it has high conductance, it's easy for electricity to pass through. If it has low conductance, it's more difficult for electricity to flow.

Now, let's explore another definition of conductance, which is related to how well something can transmit heat.

Just like electricity, heat also wants to move from one place to another. Conductance, in this sense, refers to how easily heat can transfer through a material.

Think of a hot potato. If you hold it in your hand, the heat from the potato is conducted, or transferred, to your hand. Some materials, like metal, conduct heat really well. So if you touched a metal spoon to the potato, the heat would quickly transfer from the potato to the spoon and then to your hand. Metal has high heat conductance.

Now, imagine you have a piece of wood. If you touched the wood to the hot potato, it wouldn't conduct the heat as effectively. So, the heat from the potato wouldn't transfer to the wood, and you could hold the wood without burning yourself. Wood has low heat conductance.

So, when we talk about conductance in terms of heat transfer, it's all about how efficiently a material can transmit or conduct heat.

So, to sum it up, conductance is a measure of how easily electricity can flow through a material, and it can also refer to how efficiently heat transfers through a material. It's like a road or a pathway that allows electrons or heat to move along.