What term describes the resistance of a conductor of unit length and cross-sectional area?

The term that accurately describes the resistance of a conductor with a unit length and a unit cross-sectional area is resistivity. Resistivity is a fundamental property of materials that quantifies how strongly they resist the flow of electric current. It is expressed in ohm-meters (Ω·m) and is critical in understanding how different materials will perform in electrical applications, particularly in cathodic protection systems. In contrast, conductivity measures how easily electricity can flow through a material and is the inverse of resistivity. Impedance refers to the total opposition a circuit presents to alternating current, which encompasses both resistive and reactive components, while reactivity is a term typically associated with chemical reactions rather than electrical properties. Therefore, resistivity is the precise term needed to describe the resistance characteristics of a conductor per unit length and cross-sectional area.