What are conductors and

insulators?
 Warm Up

3. Study the picture above. When the

sun comes out, the snowman
melts, or changes from ____.
a. solid to liquid
1. In the diagram above, the water in the pan is b. liquid to solid
changing from a liquid to a gas, or ____. c. gas to liquid
d. solid to gas
a. Melting c. condensing
b. freezing d. evaporating
4. Buoyancy is__________
a. The ability for an object to float
2. What is matter? b. To form a solution with another
a. The amount of matter something contains. material
b. Everything in the universe that has mass and c. The amount of matter something
takes up space contains.
c. The amount of salt in water d. evaporation
d. The amount of space that matter takes up.
 What is a conductor?
• A conductor is something which allows electricity
to flow through.

• An example of a conductor is:

– Scissors
– Paper clip
– Aluminum foil
– Iron
– Steel
– Copper
 What is a Insulator?
• An insulator is what makes electricity from not
flowing

• Examples of insulators are:

– Cotton
– Paper
– Plastic
– Glass
– Rubber
 These are pictures of
conductors and Insulators
Conductors Insulators
 Lets demonstrate….
Materials Needed:
• 1.2-volt lightbulb,
• a matching lightbulb base,
• a D-cell battery,
• a banana
• three pieces of copper wire with the
• insulation stripped off the ends.
 Procedure
Draw the following picture in your science
journal.
 Let me demonstrate…
Set up the equipment as shown and tape
the wires to the battery.

•Does anything happen?

•Does the banana allow electricity to flow through
the circuit and light the bulb?
•Is it a conductor or an insulator? Why or why not?
Now its your turn…

Use of a circuit tester: To test whether the

material is a good electrical conductor.

Example of a circuit tester

 Inquiring Minds Want to Know!
Conductor or Insulator? That is the question!
Now take the bag of Item Conductor Insulator Did the
bulb
materials and spread light?
Spoon
them out in front of
you. Paper clip

Draw the following table pencil

in your journal. Rubber

As you test each item, band
eraser
record whether it was
a conductor or and Foil

insulator with a Nail

coin
Step 1: Set up the circuit Step 2: Place the object
tester as shown above. between the open ends of the
wire.
If the bulb lights up, it
means the material allows
electric current to flow
through the closed circuit.

 The brighter the bulb, the

better the conductor of
electricity is the material.
 Now write your conclusion based
on your investigation…
• What objects were conductors of
electricity? Why?
• What objects were insulators of electricity?
• Did any of the conductors have common
characteristics?
• What about the insulators?
• How would knowing the difference
between conductors and insulators help
you in the real world?
 Conclusions…
Conductors allow electricity flow through them.
Conductors are materials that can carry
electricity - they conduct electricity. Metal
materials such as copper, iron, steel and
aluminum are all good conductors of electricity.

Insulators do not allow electricity to flow through

them. Materials such as wood, plastic, rubber
and glass do not carry electricity and are called
insulators – they don’t conduct electricity.