Question

Can a dielectric conduct electricity ?

Answer 1

Hint:Here, you are asked whether a dielectric can conduct electricity or not. In order to answer this question, you first need to see what exactly is required for a material to conduct electricity. After knowing the reason behind conduction of electricity, you need to consider the characteristics and properties of a dielectric material and then see that do dielectric materials satisfy the criteria of electricity conduction and then finally conclude.

Complete answer:
The movement or flow of electrically charged particles through a medium is called electrical conduction. This movement generates the current. The mechanism of the flow or movement of the charges depends on the material. So, in order to have conduction of electricity, you need free charges in the material used. A conductor is a material which has a large number of free electrons and thus conduction of electricity is possible and quite easy.

An inductor is a material in which there is lack of free electrons and hence conduction of electricity is not possible. Dielectric is a material which is actually an insulator, that does not have free electrons but when placed in an electric field, the charges slightly shift from their equilibrium position and orient and produce dielectric polarization, basically the charges get polarized. So, you can see that the dielectric has no free charges and hence is a poor conductor of electricity, in fact it is an insulator.

So, no, dielectric cannot conduct electricity.

Note: We have discussed in brief about the properties of dielectric and concluded that the dielectrics do not conduct electricity, so keep this thing in mind. You should remember that there are no free electrons in dielectric material or medium which makes the conduction of electricity impossible. Only polarization in dielectric is possible, that too by applying electric field. By saying that there are no free electrons what is meant is that the electrons are tightly bonded to the nucleus.