Thursday, April 3, 2008

Insulators


An Insulator is a material that resists the flow of electric current. It is an object intended to support or separate electrical conductors without passing current through itself. An insulation material has atoms with tightly bonded valence electrons. The term electrical insulation has the same meaning as the term dielectric.
Some materials such as silicon dioxide or teflon are very good electrical insulators. A much larger class of materials, for example rubber-like polymers and most plastics are still "good enough" to insulate electrical wiring and cables even though they may have lower bulk resistivity. These materials can serve as practical and safe insulators for low to moderate voltages (hundreds, or even thousands, of volts).
Electrical insulation is the absence of electrical conduction. Electronic band theory (a branch of physics) predicts that a charge will flow whenever there are states available into which the electrons in a material can be excited. This allows them to gain energy and thereby move through the conductor (usually a metal). If no such states are available, the material is an insulator.
Most (though not all, see Mott insulator) insulators are characterized by having a large band gap. This occurs because the "valence" band containing the highest energy electrons is full, and a large energy gap separates this band from the next band above it. There is always some voltage (called the breakdown voltage) that will give the electrons enough energy to be excited into this band. Once this voltage is exceeded, the material ceases being an insulator, and charge will begin to pass through it. However, it is usually accompanied by physical or chemical changes that permanently degrade the material's insulating properties.
Materials which lack electron conduction must also lack other mobile charges as well. For example, if a liquid or gas contains ions, then the ions can be made to flow as an electric current, and the material is a conductor. Electrolytes and plasmas contain ions and will act as conductors whether or not electron flow is involved.
Answer the questions, based on the dialog above, and translate the answers.
Some answers will be found on the internet.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mott_insulator
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakdown_voltage
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrolyte

1. What is an Insulator?
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2. What kind of an object is it?
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3. Where can one find tightly bonded valence electrons?
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4. The term electrical insulation has the same meaning as?
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5. Name some materials that are very good electrical insulators.
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6. What is the absence of electrical conduction.
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7. The Electronic band theory, is a branch of what?
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8. How are most of the insulators characterized by?
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9. What are Mott Insulators?
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10. What is a break down voltage insulator?
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11. What is a breakdown voltage (diode)?
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12. What is an electrolyte?
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