Resistance is futile? Quite the opposite! In fact, electricity only wants one thing: flow. When it flows through a conductor, however, it is impeded by the atomic cores (atoms without external electrons) of the conductor and thus slowed down. However, this does not happen to the same extent with all materials; metals, for example, have a small resistance and plastics have a high resistance. ELECTRICAL RESISTANCE therefore indicates how well a substance or solution conducts electricity. This measure can be calculated by dividing the electrical voltage (U) by the current intensity (I). The ELECTRICAL RESISTANCE is given in ohms, the abbreviation is R.