Conductors, insulators and electrostatic induction
Charge mobility and polarization are different from net charging.
Key knowledge
A conductor allows charge to redistribute readily; an insulator restricts that motion under the specified conditions. A nearby charged body can polarize a neutral conductor without changing its total charge. Charging by induction additionally separates the polarized parts or connects to a charge reservoir and disconnects in the appropriate order. Charge transfer, polarization and electrical neutrality are distinct.
Conditions and scope
- These are macroscopic material descriptions under stated field, temperature and timescale conditions.
- Insulators can polarize and have finite leakage/breakdown; isolated conductors can retain net charge. Induction does not create charge, and attraction of a neutral polarizable object does not prove its net charge has the opposite sign.
Sources · 1
References
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Evidence and review
Read §5.2 conductor/insulator contrast and the two-sphere/grounded induction sequences figures5.10–5.13. Exclude blanket prose that conductors instantly lose all excess charge or that insulators never conduct.
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