DIELECTRICS

1. DIELECTRICS
Dielectrics are the non conducting substances. Like conductors they don’t have any free charge or charge
carriers but they might have some negligible amount or numbers in them. In a dielectric under the effect of external
electric field there is a net dipole moment is induced in the dielectric. Due to the molecular dipole moments, a net
charge appears on the surface of dielectric.

These induced charges (with their surface charge densities) produce a field opposing the external field.
Induced field is lesser in magnitude than the external field. So, field inside dielectric gets reduced.

2. IMPORTANCE OF DIELECTRICS

Purposes of dielectrics are to keep the conducting plates come in contact, allowing for smaller plate
separations and therefore for the higher capacitances, to increase the effective capacitance by reducing electric field
strength

This picture shows us about the polarisation dielectric molecules when electric field is applied. Dielectric
polarisation helps in movement of flow of positive charges in the field and negative charges to the opposite field. This
result to the phenomenon of an internal electric field which in turn results in reducing the overall electric field within
the dielectric material.

3. PROPERTIES OF A DIELECTRIC MATERIAL

The fundamental property of the material is its ability to get electrons and get polarised and get exposed to
an external electric field. The properties which are shown by the dielectrics are dielectrics have a large energy band
gap they also have a high insulation resistance and negative temperature coefficient. They have high bond attraction
between the parent nucleus and electrons. They must also posses the conductivity, power factor, permittivity, loss
angle and breakdown voltage.

4. APPLICATIONS OF A DIELECTRIC MATERIAL

It is most commonly used in capacitors, used to store energy between the plates, filtering out the noise
signals in the resonance circuit, some of them are also have some high electrical insulating properties, rather than its
ability to store a charge.

5. DIELECTRIC CONSTANT
The ratio of the strength of the applied electric field to the strength of reduced value of the electric field on
placing the dielectric between two plates is called the dielectric constant of the medium. It is also known as relative
permittivity or specific inductive capacity and is denoted by “K”. The value of k is always greater than 1.

5.1 EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE ON DIELECTRIC CONSTANT

The dielectric constant is inversely proportional to the temperature, when the temperature increases the
dielectric constant decreases. The molecules having high temperature then molecules have high random motion. The
resistivity increases with increase in temperature in the range of 500 K.

5.2 EFFECT OF DIELECTRIC IN ELECTRIC FIELD

When a dielectric is placed in an electric field, practically no current flows in them, because unlikely metals
they don’t have free bounded electrons, electrons may also drift through the material.