Presentation On Electrical Conductors and Electrical Insulators

ELECTRICAL
CONDUCTORS
AND
ELECTRICAL
INSULATORS
By Areej Altaf
What is an electrical conductor ?
 An electrical conductor conducts electricity. The ability to

conduct electricity is called electrical conductivity
 In an electrical conductor, the electrical charges moves from

atom to atom when the potential difference is applied across
them.
 Inside a good conductor, the electric field is zero. This creates

acceleration in the electron, while in the equilibrium state
electron’s net force is zero.
 Most metals are electrical conductors.

Types of electrical conductors
 Plasma – The Best type of electrical conductors.
 Semi conductors – It is the type of conductors that

can allow electricity to flow through but not as
well as plasma electrical conductors.
 Resistors – It is type of conductors that makes

electricity to flow very difficult.
What is an electrical insulator ?
 An electrical insulator is a material in which electric current does not flow

freely
 The atoms of insulator hav e tightly bound electrons which cannot readily
mov e
 The insulator have higher resistiv ity than semi conductors or conductors
 The insulators are used in electrical equipment to support and separate

electrical conductors without allowing current through themselv es
 The most common examples are non metals

CONDUCTORS VS INSULATORS
 The conductor and insulator are the type of material. The conductor allows the energy ( i.e
current or heat) to pass through it whereas, the insulator does not allow the energy to pass
through it
 Conductor has high thermal conductivity whereas the insulator has low thermal conductivity
 Thee Conductor has weak covalent bond whereas the insulator has strong covalent bond
 The conductor has low resistance whereas the insulator has high resistance
 In conductor, the potential remains same at all the point whereas in insulator, the potential
remains zero
 In conductor, the electrons moves freely whereas in insulator, the electrons does not move
freely
Good conductors of electricity
 Silver
 Gold
 Copper
 Aluminum
 Mercury
 Steel
 Iron
 Sea water
 Concrete
 Platinum
 Brass
 Bronze
 Graphite
 Silver – It is the best conductor of electricity because it contains a higher
number of movable atoms.
 Gold – It remains conductive for a longer time.
 Copper – It has the highest conductivity of any non – precious metal. It is
the first choice as a conductor for electrical applications.
 Aluminum – It is an excellent electricity Conductor. It is non corrosive.
 Mercury – It is a fair Conductor of electricity. It has unique electron
configuration which strongly resists removal of an electron making it
behave similarly to noble gas elements. As a result, mercury forms weak
bonds and is liquid at room temperature.
 Steel - It is a Conductor and an alloy of iron. Steel is typically used to
encase other conductors because it is an inflexible and highly corrosive
metal when exposed to air.
 Iron – Iron has metallic bonds which is where electrons are free to move
around more than one atom. This is called delocalization, because of this
iron is a good conductor.
 Sea water – It has number of salts dissolved in it. These are all electrolytes
and dissociate to give ions in water. Since ions are carrier of charge, sea
water is the best conductor of electricity.
 Concrete – It conducts electricity but it is a poor Conductor of electricity.
Moist concrete in rainy days can have little electrical conductance
 Platinum – It is an element with high electrical conductivity. The metal has
excellent resistance to corrosion, is stable at high temperatures and has
stable electrical properties.
 Brass – It is a good electrically conductive alloy. At 68 degrees Fahrenheit, it
has a low resistance at around 0.6 to 0.9 E-7 Ohm meter. One of its
component metals is copper, which is only second best to silver in electric
conductivity. Brass is only 28 percent as conductive as copper.
 Bronze – It is an alloy of copper and tin. It is a better Conductor electricity than
most steels and has good corrosion resistance, ductility and strength.
 Graphite – It is the one allotropic form of carbon. In graphite molecule, one
valence electron of each carbon atom remains free. Due to the free electrons
in it’s framework, graphite can perform electricity. Therefore, graphite is a good
Conductor of electricity.
ELECTRICAL INSULATORS
 Rubber
 Glass
 Oil
 Air
 Diamond
 Dry cotton
 Plastic
 Asphalt
 Fiber glass
 Dry paper
 Porcelain
 Ceramics
 Quartz
 Rubber – Rubber is a good insulator because it prevents electrons from
moving through it easily and gaining energy, which causes an electrical
charge. Electrons are transferred to rubber, but they cannot move fast
enough to gain the energy they need to disperse an electrical charge.
 Glass – It is actually an insulator. It does not allow the flow of electrons easily
from atom to atom, as seen in substances like copper and other metals
which are excellent Conductors of both heat and electricity. Insulators
have electrons that are held tightly which means they are not shared
between other items.
 Oil – The main reason for using mineral oil as an insulating material is its mass
production worldwide and it’s higher flashpoint. In recent days, mineral oil
has been widely used as a main source of insulating material for various
types of equipments, especially power transformers
 Air – It is a good insulator because it is a gaseous substance, therefore its
spread – out molecular configure resist heat transfer to some degree.
 Diamond- In diamond, all four outer electron on each carbon atom are
used in covalent bonding, so there are no delocalized electrons and thus it
is an insulator.
 Dry cotton- It is a good heat insulator provided that it is not in vacuum. It is
made of loosely intertwined fibers, and between them a lot of air is
trapped. Thus cotton is a good heat insulator.
 Plastic – It is made up of polymers that is long repeating chains of micro
molecules. These long chains of molecules are tightly bound but extremely
flexible, so they can form and mold in various shapes. These elasticity is why
plastic is used for dip molding and dip coating. Thus plastic is a good
insulator.
 Asphalt – It generally behaves as an insulator. The addition of graphite can
produce electrically conductive asphalt, which can be further
manufactured as multi functional asphalt concrete.
 Fiber glass – It is a composite material made of plastic matrix reinforced by
tiny glass fibers. It is lightweight yet strong. Thus it is very effective insulation
material.
 Dry paper – It makes a good cup insulator because it is able to reduce
conduction, convection and radiationof heat. The natural cellulose in
paper makes it a stronger electrical insulator.
 Porcelain – Since procelain does not Conduct electricity especially when
combined with other non – Conductive materials, it makes the ideal
material for insulators. It is most frequently used material for insulators.
Insulators are made up of wet, processed porcelain.
 Ceramics – Ceramic used as an insulator does not have any loose electrons
so it is a good insulator.
 Quartz – It is an electrical insulator as there are no freely movable electrons
in it’s crystal structure like in metals.

Presentation On Electrical Conductors and Electrical Insulators

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Presentation On Electrical Conductors and Electrical Insulators

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Presentation On Electrical Conductors and Electrical Insulators

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

ELECTRICAL

 An electrical conductor conducts electricity. The ability to

 In an electrical conductor, the electrical charges moves from

 Inside a good conductor, the electric field is zero. This creates

 Most metals are electrical conductors.

 Plasma – The Best type of electrical conductors.

 Semi conductors – It is the type of conductors that

 Resistors – It is type of conductors that makes

 An electrical insulator is a material in which electric current does not flow

 The insulators are used in electrical equipment to support and separate

 The most common examples are non metals

You might also like