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Electrical resistivity is the characteristic of a conductor, a semiconductor, or an insulator that limits the amount of current flow. It is determined by the atomic or molecular properties that may either allow or impede the flow of free electrons through the material. Electrical resistivity is almost the same as electrical resistance with the slight difference in the way electrical resistivity may refer to resistance of a specific length of a material. For instance, a basic unit of resistivity could refer to the amount of resistance per unit length of a copper cable.