Question

What happens when an insulator is placed in an electric field?

Answer 1

1. Insulators are materials that hinder the free flow of electrons from one particle to another.
2. The insulator materials do not permit heat and electricity to pass through them.
3. The insulator is a dielectric, is placed in an electric field, it gets polarized.
4. In insulators no mobile charge carriers are present and so the external electric field distorts.
5. The electron shells around nuclei so that the atom acts like a dipole.
6. The dipole becomes aligned when an insulator is placed in an external electric field.
7. When an insulator is placed in an electric field will make the field weaker.
8. Examples of insulators are plastic, wood, and glass.