Physics - Current Electricity Question with Solution | TestHub

For a conductor, as temperature increases, the thermal agitation of atoms increases, leading to more frequent collisions between free electrons and atoms. This decreases the relaxation time, which in turn increases the specific resistance (resistivity).

For a semiconductor, as temperature increases, more covalent bonds break, generating a larger number of electron-hole pairs. The significant increase in the number density of charge carriers causes the specific resistance to decrease.

Therefore, the specific resistance of a conductor increases and that of a semiconductor decreases.

Answer: increases , decreases.