The nature of an object or material that has been charged is depends on material used in the object. If the object is made of conductive material then it is Conductor and if the object is made of non-conductive material then it is Insulator and If the object is made of mixed type of material then it is Semiconductor;
Conductors are the objects or materials that allow electrons to flow freely from particle to particle. An object created by using conducting material will allows charge to be transferred across the entire surface of the object.
If charge is given to the object at any position then that charge is immediately distributed across the entire surface of the object. The distribution of charge is the effect of electrons movement. Because conductors permits electrons to be move from particle to particle, a charged object will always distribute its charge until the overall repulsive forces between excess electrons is minimized. If a charged conductor is contacted to other object, the conductor can shift its charge to that object. The transfer of charge between materials happens more easily if the other object is made of a conducting material. Conductors permits for charge transfer through the free movement of electrons.
Eg. Iron ,Silver, Copper etc.
Insulators are the objects or materials that forbids electrons to flow freely from particle to particle. An object created by using non conducting material will not allows charge to be transferred across the entire surface of the object
Insulators are materials that disallow free flow of electrons from atom to atom and molecule to molecule. If charge is shifted to an insulator at any position, then the excess charge will remain at the initial position.The particles of the insulator forbids the free flow of electrons;So charge is not distributed over the surface of an insulator.
Eg. Paper,glass,Rubber,silk,air etc
While insulators are not useful for transferring charge, they do serve a critical role in electrostatic experiments and demonstrations. Conductive objects are often mounted upon insulating objects. This arrangement of a conductor on top of an insulator prevents charge from being transferred from the conductive object to its surroundings. This arrangement also allows for a student (or teacher) to manipulate a conducting object without touching it. The insulator serves as a handle for moving the conductor around on top of a lab table. If charging experiments are performed with aluminum pop cans, then the cans should be mounted on top of Styrofoam cups. The cups serve as insulators, preventing the pop cans from discharging their charge. The cups also serve as handles when it becomes necessary to move the cans around on the table.
Semiconductors are the objects or materials that allows seldom flow of electrons from particle to particle. These are made by both conducting and non conducting materials.
Eg.Silicon and Germanium
Gajender Sharma
