Throughout the material for either an insulator or a conductor as long as it's a solid. Maybe a little bit in place, but it can't travel freely I mean it can wiggle around and jiggle just from thermal vibrations, That for both conductors and insulators, the positivelyĬharge nucleus cannot move. Swarm of electrons that surround that nucleus. Positively charged nucleus and a negatively charged Before I talk about theĭifferences, one similarity is that both insulators andĬonductors are composed of a huge number of atoms and molecules and these atoms and molecules, whether it be insulator or conductor, are composed of a Before I talk about theĭifferences between these, here I have two solid cylinders of either an insulating material You can get pretty far assuming that it's eitherĪn insulating material electrically or a conducting Of electrical materials but for most introductory physics classes and problems and tests,

There are semi-conductorsĪnd super conductors and other exotic forms Universe can be broken down into a category of insulator,Įlectrical insulator, or electrical conductor. It's useful to pretend like all materials in the Some scientists are using their knowledge of plastics, organic chemistry, and knowledge from the semiconductor industry to make 'organic semiconductors', or essentially making electronics out of carbon-based materials instead of doped silicon. I don't know much about plastics, but the topic seems very interesting, because plastics and semiconductor electronics often end up being toxic waste, and become harmful. The process might involve 'doping' which is used to make semiconductors, or it might involve treating the plastic with metal ions, to make it conductive.īut these are specialty chemicals that are too expensive to be commercialized (they only exist in labs perhaps) the most common plastics are thermoplastics (these include Nylon, Acrylic, and PLA) which can be molded into shapes and products. I'm not sure what this process is, or how they synthesize conductive plastics, but it is probably expensive and complicated. Materials engineers and chemists have found ways to make conductive plastics by altering regular plastics through some process.

Conduct together physical release