DIELECTRIC

A dielectric material (dielectric for short) is an electrical insulator that can be polarized by an
applied electric field. When a dielectric is placed in an electric field, electric charges do not flow through the
material as they do in a conductor, but only slightly shift from their average equilibrium positions
causing dielectric polarization. Because of dielectric polarization, positive charges are displaced toward the
field and negative charges shift in the opposite direction. This creates an internal electric field that reduces the
overall field within the dielectric itself.If a dielectric is composed of weakly bonded molecules, those molecules
not only become polarized, but also reorient so that their symmetry axes align to the field.
The study of dielectric properties concerns storage and dissipation of electric and magnetic energy in materials.
Dielectrics are important for explaining various phenomena in electronics, optics, and solid-state physics.
Terminology
The term "dielectric" was coined by William Whewell (from "dia-electric") in response to a request
from Michael Faraday.

While the term insulator implies low electrical conduction, dielectric typically means materials with a
high polarizability.
The latter is expressed by a number called the relative permittivity (also known in older texts as
dielectric constant).

The term insulator is generally used to indicate electrical obstruction while the term dielectric is used to
indicate the energy storing capacity of the material (by means of polarization).

ELECTRIC SUSCEPTIBILITY
In electromagnetism, the Electric Susceptibility ( ) is a dimensionless proportionality constant that
indicates the degree of polarization of a dielectric material in response to an applied electric field. The greater
the electric susceptibility, the greater the ability of a material to polarize in response to the field, and thereby
reduce the total electric field inside the material (and store energy). It is in this way that the electric
susceptibility influences the electric permittivity of the material and thus influences many other phenomena in
that medium, from the capacitance of capacitors to the speed of light.