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The atoms of the insulator have tightly bound electrons which cannot readily move. Other materials—semiconductors and conductors—conduct electric current more easily. The property that distinguishes an insulator is its resistivity; insulators have higher resistivity than semiconductors or conductors. The most common examples are non-metals.
The ampacity of a conductor, that is, the amount of current it can carry, is related to its electrical resistance: a lower-resistance conductor can carry a larger value of current. The resistance, in turn, is determined by the material the conductor is made from (as described above) and the conductor's size.
[1] [2] [3] For example, if a 1 m 3 solid cube of material has sheet contacts on two opposite faces, and the resistance between these contacts is 1 Ω, then the resistivity of the material is 1 Ω⋅m. Electrical conductivity (or specific conductance) is the reciprocal of electrical resistivity. It represents a material's ability to conduct ...
The electric field was formally defined as the force exerted per unit charge, but the concept of potential allows for a more useful and equivalent definition: the electric field is the local gradient of the electric potential. Usually expressed in volts per metre, the vector direction of the field is the line of greatest slope of potential, and ...
Electroluminescence — The phenomenon wherein a material emits light in response to an electric current passed through it, or to a strong electric field. Electrostatic induction — Redistribution of charges in a conductor inside an external static electric field, such as when a charged object is brought close.
A topological insulator is a material whose interior behaves as an electrical insulator while its surface behaves as an electrical conductor, [3] meaning that electrons can only move along the surface of the material.
Mott insulators are a class of materials that are expected to conduct electricity according to conventional band theories, but turn out to be insulators (particularly at low temperatures). These insulators fail to be correctly described by band theories of solids due to their strong electron –electron interactions, which are not considered in ...
In solid state physics, a charge carrier is a particle or quasiparticle that is free to move, carrying an electric charge, especially the particles that carry electric charges in electrical conductors. [1] Examples are electrons, ions and holes. [2]