Why Insulators have negative temperature coefficient of resistance

The temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) is a measure of how much an electrical resistance of material changes with temperature. The temperature coefficient can be positive, negative, or zero.

A negative temperature coefficient of resistance (NTC) means that the resistance of the material decreases as the temperature increases. In other words, as the temperature rises, the material becomes more conductive.

The temperature rise in insulators creates more free electrons than the ones that existed in cooler state. This increase in number of free electrons is generally more and offsets the interference to drift movement that is caused by increased molecular activity. Hence resistance of insulators decreases with increase in temperature.

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