Preview

Conductor and Insulator of Electricity

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
21077 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Conductor and Insulator of Electricity
Conductors and Insulators of Electricity
A major reason electricity works is because of conductors. First metal, water, tall trees and tall items are good conductors because lightning is attracted to them. These materials have many mobile electrons. Metal is an easy substance for lightning to travel through so metals are good conductors.
However, rubber is a bad conductor because lightning bounces off of it. A bad conductor is called an insulator. An insulator has a few mobile electrons. It is important for us to know the difference between good conductors and insulators because if you're outside in an open field during a storm you will know where to go to be safe from the lightning. Truly, knowing the difference between conductors and insulators of electricity can save our lives.

Electricity is a type of energy found in nature.
It consists of electrons, and there is electricity in nature as well as electricity that is man-made.
Scientists have found we can make electricity if we pass a magnet close to a metal wire, or if we put the right chemicals in a jar with two different kinds of metal rods. This is called an electromagnet.
Scientists have observed that electricity seems to flow like water from one place to another, either as a spark or as a current in a metal. They now know that all matter has electric charge, but this is mostly cancelled out by the presence of matter with an opposite charge. We only see an effect when there is too much or too little electric charge in one place so that it is not cancelled out.
Since the nineteenth century, electricity has been made into a useful creation that affects every part of our lives. Until then, it was just a curiosity or a force of nature seen in a thunderstorm.
To be useful, electricity has to be made from different sources of energy such as by burning coal or oil or from wind or the sunshine or flowing water in a power station.
Electricity arrives at our homes through wires from the places where it

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    ECT122 W1 ILab 2

    • 302 Words
    • 2 Pages

    A conductor is made of materials that have little opposition to the flow of charge. A conductor is made of metals like copper, silver, aluminum or gold. These types of metals allows for the easy flow of electrons. Wires are made of these materials.…

    • 302 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Electric current is the flow of electric charge. Some materials become electrically charged when rubbed together. A substance that gains electrons becomes negatively charged, while a substance that loses electrons becomes positively charged. Charges that are the same (positive and positive or negative and negative) repel, while unlike charges (positive and negative) attract. Charged objects are able to attract small-uncharged objects toward them, such as pieces of paper. Electrical charge can be created by rubbing things together or touching them to other objects with greater charge than their own.…

    • 628 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Benjamin franklin

    • 434 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Once Franklin had an understanding of the behavior of electricity, he set about to protect houses from the destructive forces of lightning. A lightning rod, simply, is a rod attached to the top of a building, connected to the ground through a wire. The electric charge from lightning strikes the rod and the charge is conducted harmlessly into the ground. This protects houses from burning down and people from electrocution.…

    • 434 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    dylan chesney

    • 505 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Humans of modern times, rely on electricity for just about everything. Whether it is a microwave, computer, or even just lights, electricity is the most relied on utilities of twenty-first century life. Without electricity, many people would not be able to survive. For instance, men and woman of older times would have made light from a fire or candles; nowadays, an assumption could be made that…

    • 505 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Btec L3 Essay Example

    • 1693 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Ans: Electricity is the movement of electrons. As long as electrons in an atom are balance and revolve precisely in orbit around their sun or atom nucleus there is no electron flow or electric current in a wire. These atoms are the smallest particle into which an element can be divided without losing its property. A single atom consists of three basic components: a Proton, a Neutron and an Electron. An atom is similar to a small solar system, so is the nucleus in the centre of an atom. Protons and neutrons are contained within the nucleus. Electrons orbit around the nucleus which could be similar to planets orbiting around the sun. As an electrician I will also be dealing with insulators. An insulator is any material that stops the flow of electrons examples are rubber, glass and plastic. Conductors are the opposite of and insulator they are material that easily allows electrons to flow, like cooper, gold and silver. A material that has high resistance has low conductivity, this means that it doesn’t conduct current easily; likewise a material that has high resistance has high conductivity. Resistance is measured in units called Ohms. There are types of electricity, one is static electricity. Static electricity is the charges that are fixed in place unlike electrons in wires with voltages potential with no electron flow. Opposite electrical charges always attract each other, so these particles with opposite charges will tend to move towards each other. Like electrical charges always repel.…

    • 1693 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    With Franklin's experiments it all showed that electricity consisted of a common element which he called electric fire. Further he discovered that electricity was fluid like a liquid. It passed…

    • 1031 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Wire Coursework

    • 1909 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Electricity is conducted through a conductor, in this case wire, by means of free electrons. The number of free electrons depends on the material and more free electrons means a better conductor, i.e. it has less resistance. For example, gold has more free electrons than iron and, as a result, it is a better conductor. The free electrons are given energy and as a result move and collide with neighbouring free electrons. This happens across the length of the wire and thus electricity is conducted. Resistance is the…

    • 1909 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    One of Nikola Tesla’s greatest discoveries was the electric current. Electric currents are used in every technological advance used today like light bulbs, television, etc. during that point of time, it was very impactful. Nothing like it had been discovered yet. “Tesla…

    • 717 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Atoms make up everything we can see, therefore every material, and atoms have very different properties within themselves, as well as having different ways of being arranged or of bonding together, all of which affect the physical and chemical properties of whatever is made up of those atoms. Most materials either conduct electricity or fail to conduct electricity. However, there is a third type of material that is not a really good electrical conductor, and at the same time, is not really a great insulator either. These materials are called semiconductors, such as silicon and germanium (Trefil, p. 243).…

    • 1098 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Electricity was one of the greatest inventions to benefit American society. It started in 1876 when Thomas Edison created the light bulb. The light bulb helped create central power plants which lit homes, factories, streets, and even large cities. It extended the number of hours in the day when Americans can work and play. Electricity also led to several new inventions. Samuel Morse invented the telegraph in 1896 that sent messages over wire. Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876.…

    • 394 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Physics Test Notes

    • 2881 Words
    • 12 Pages

    * Electromagnetism was discovered in the 19th century, which ultimately leads to the ability to generate electricity, and also to be able to distribute it over wide areas. Thomas Edison in New York in opened the first public electricity utility 1882-marking the first time that electricity was available for domestic and industrial use.…

    • 2881 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    solar energy

    • 2190 Words
    • 10 Pages

    make electricity. Some are better than others. There are some scientists who are trying to find…

    • 2190 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Editing Practice

    • 1439 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Yet, people began to understand how electricity works only a little more than two centuries ago. Nature has apparently been experimenting in this field for millions of years. Scientists are discovering more and more that the living world may hold many interesting secrets of electricity that could benefit humanity.…

    • 1439 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Another important aspect of electricity is the flexibility,it is very easy to carry electricity from one place to other by using conductors .…

    • 418 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    We all know that the world is now facing an energy crisis and everyone is trying to do something about that. Now you can show everyone that electrical energy or electricity…

    • 428 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays