Insulators, Conductors,

Semiconductors, and Super-

conductors

General Physics 2

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 Contents

01. Insulators 03. Semiconductors

02. Conductors 04. Superconductors

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Insulators

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 • Are materials that do not conduct electricity
• Have no free movement of electrons occurs because
the material has no loosely bound electrons that can es-
cape from its atoms and thereby move freely through-
out the material.

Insulators • Examples
• Glass
• Plastic
• Cloth

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Conductors

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 • Are materials that conduct electricity well.
• Have an electronic structure that allows the free move-
ment of some electrons.
• The positive charges of the atoms of a conducting mate-
rial do not move, since they reside in the heavy nuclei

• Examples
Conductors • Solid
• Copper
• Metal

• Liquid
• Saltwater
• Rainwater

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There are good and poor conductors and insulators
depending on the properties of the materials
• Click icon to add picture

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 Semiconductors
• Semiconductor
• Can change from being an insulator to a con-
ductor and vice versa

• Example
• CPU
Click icon to add picture

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 • Kinds of Semiconductors
• Intrinsic
• Examples
• Silicon
• germanium

• Extrinsic
• It is produced by doping
Semiconductors • Doping is the addition of minute amounts to other materi-
als that can act as electron donors or electron receptors.
• N-type- a semiconductor doped with electron donor
• P-type- a semiconductor that has an electron-hole that acts
as a positive charge carrier. The hole is where the electron
travel.

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Superconductors

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Superconductor

• Are materials that have zero resistance

to the conduction of electricity.
• A material can only superconduct at a
very low temperature.
• high-Tc conductors - the Tc stands for
“critical temperature” which is the • Click icon to add picture

maximum temperature that allows su-

perconductivity.

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Thanks !

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