TECHNOLOGY AND LIVELIHOOD EDUCATION

ELECTRONICS Grade 10
Name: _____________________________________________________ Grade & Section: ___________
Teacher: ________________________________________ Date: _______________ Score: ___________
Lesson: QUARTER 1: Week 4 LAS 1
Activity Title: Conductors, Insulators and Semiconductors
Learning Target: Classify whether conductors, insulators, or semiconductors.
Reference: Electronics Grade 10
Conductors, Insulators and Semiconductors
CONDUCTORS
Conductors are the materials or substances which allow the flow of electricity through
them. They conduct electricity because they allow
electrons to flow easily inside them from atom to atom
or from particle to particle. An object made of a
conducting material will allow charge to be transferred across the entire surface
of the object. If charge is transferred to the object at a given location, that charge
is quickly dispensed across the entire surface of the object. The occurrence of
transferring charge, electricity or heat in any material or substance is known as
conductivity.
Examples of solid conductors are silver which is the best conductor of
electricity but costly and is not commonly used by industries. Copper, gold, aluminum, brass, and steel are good
conductors of electricity and often used in electric circuits and systems in the form of wires. Copper sulphate solution is
a liquid conductor. Gases are poor conductors, but when ionized they can become good conductors. Water, people, and
animals and trees are also examples of conductors.
Conductors are quite useful in a lot of ways and find use in many actual life applications. For example, aluminum
are use in making foils to keep food. It is also used in the manufacturing of fry pans to store heat quickly.
Iron is a common substance used in automobile manufacturing to conduct heat.
The plate of iron is made up of steel to manage heat quickly. Conductors find their
use in car radiators to get rid of heat away from the engine. Metals, such as
copper, iron and steel, are use in the parts of electrical objects that need to let
electricity to pass through like in the plugs and light bulb.

INSULATORS
Insulators are the substances or materials whose characters are different from the conductors, as they do not
permit heat or electricity to pass through them. The reason for not allowing the heat or
electricity to flow is the substance resistivity, and they do not also have any free electrons.
Figure 5. Few electrons that are freely moving but is not allowed to move to the next atom.
Insulators are materials that prevent electricity from flowing easily. It blocks the
flow of electrons from another atom.
Insulators are mainly solid like glass, mica, rubber, quartz, wood, wool, and
plastic. One of the important advantages of the insulators is that they function as the
protectors against heat and electricity and form sound too.
Figure 6. Examples of insulator.
Rubber is regularly used as fire-resistant. Clothes, tires, and slippers are also good
insulators. Electrical insulators are used in the cable system, as well as integrated circuit
boards as they (insulating materials) inhibit the flow of electrons and current through them.
Figure 7. An electric cable is one example of how conductors and insulators are used.
Electrons move along a copper conductor to give energy to an electric device such as
a television, bulb, or an engine. To keep electrons in the conductor, an insulator around
the surface of the copper conductor is provided.
When an insulator surrounds a conductor, the electrons in the conductor are stopped from
moving to the next atom.

SEMICONDUCTORS
Materials that have the characteristics to behave like conductors,
as well as insulators under different conditions are known as
semiconductors. We can also say that they are materials whose
conductivity lies between conductors and insulators. At room
temperature, semiconductors have lower electrical conductivity than
conductors but with higher electrical conductivity than insulators.
Figure 8. Examples of semiconductor
Semiconductors are used in the making of the various electronic
devices like transistors, integrated circuits, and diodes. These devices are reliable, low cost, easy to use, and power
and efficient. Germanium, silicon, tellurium, tin, and other metal oxides are a few examples of semiconductors. The
most commonly used semiconductor in electronics today is silicon.
Semiconductors became a crucial element in the manufacturing of electronics. Since the invention of the
transistor, the world of electronics has always been on an exponential curve in terms of research, development,
manufacturing, introducing new devices and technologies. And because of its ability to easily manipulate its
 conductivity of charge carriers like electrons and holes, the semiconductors are considered as the backbone of
electronics.
As shown in Figure 8, these semiconductors are employed in the manufacture of various kinds of electronic
devices, including integrated circuits, diodes, and transistors. These devices have found wide application because
of their compactness, reliability, power efficiency, and low cost. As discrete components, they have found the use in
power devices, optical sensors, and light emitters, including solid-state lasers. They have a wide range of current
and voltage-handling capabilities and, more important, lend themselves to integration into complex but readily
manufacturable microelectronic circuits. They are and will be in the foreseeable future, the key elements for the
majority of electronic systems, serving communications, signal processing, computing, and control applications in
both the consumer and industrial markets in the Philippines.
The use of semiconductor devices played a major role in this
time of pandemic especially here in the Philippines. The use of band
watch and thermal scanners with microchips that process data from
individual to individual was very useful to predict the persons health
issues. Spreading of information through
cellphones and videocams help the public to be notified in the
latest news about this crisis. Filipinos were ordered to work from
home with the use of their personal laptops that process data needed
for their work.
PROPERTIES OF CONDUCTORS,
INSULATORS & SEMICONDUCTORS
Conductors, insulators and semiconductors can be distinguished on the Figure 9. Some application of semiconductors
ground of their conductivity and other properties. The information below gives a more detailed discussion about
their properties and key differences.

A. Complete each sentence by identifying the correct word inside the parentheses. Write your answer on another sheet
of paper.
1. A (conductor, insulator, semiconductor) is a material whose conductivity lies between conducting and non-
conducting materials.
2. The resistance of a conductor (increases, decreases, is the same) with an increase in temperature.
3. The conduction in a semiconductor is due to the (free electrons in metal bonding, movement of electron &
holes) .
4. Insulators are formed by (covalent bonding, metallic bonding, ionic bonding).
5. Semiconductors current flow is caused by (presence of free electrons, free electrons and holes, free electrons
which are negligibly present).
6. Copper sulphate solution is an example in case of liquids as a (conductor, insulator, semiconductor).
7. (Conductors, Insulators, Semiconductors) is considered as future elements in the industry of electronic devices.
8. One of the significant advantages of the (conductors, insulators, semiconductors) is that they serve as the
protectors against heat and electricity and form sound too.
9. The resistance of semiconductor materials decreases with the (increase, decrease) in temperature and vice-versa.
10. The (inductance, resistance, capacitance) of a material is a measurement of how well a material opposes the
flow of electric current.