My problem with conduction.

[rachelcapt]

I thought the thing that makes a metal more conductive is the number of free electrons......

How then is copper more conductive than iron when copper has only 8.47 (x10^22) free electrons per cm cubed compaired to a massive 17 for iron?

If someone could explain this to me my face will go like this :-)

Thanks

[nbo10]

The scattering cross section of ions and other impurities is higher in Fe.

JMD

[TonyG]

nbo10 is correct. You can verify this thru electrical resistivity values. The resistivity for Fe is about 5 times higher than it is for Cu.

[rachelcapt]

Thanks for your replies - that sounds right.

Does anyone have any figures for the scattering cross sectional areas of Cu and Fe?