Module 2

Conductors and Insulators

 LESSON 3

INSULATORS AND CONDUCTORS

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

After studying this section, you should be able to:

• Recognise common electrical conductors and their uses.

• Recognise common electrical Insulators and their uses.

Conductors
In electrical and electronic circuits and components, CONDUCTORS are materials
that allow electric current to flow through them because their atomic structure
lets the outermost (free) electrons move easily from one atom to another, and
because the electrons carry a negative electric charge they are easily repelled by a
applied negative electric charge and attracted by a positive charge. Therefore
applying a voltage between the two ends of a conductor causes an ‘electron drift ’
from negative to positive giving rise to an electric current. Suitable materials to
act as conductors include:

Most Metals
Some Gases
Solutions of Acids, Alkalis & Salts in water

Metal Conductors
Metals such as copper, aluminium, and some alloys (mixtures of two or more
metals), e.g. brass, phosphor-bronze and manganin are widely used in electrical
and electronic circuits. Electric connectors in switches or in a mains 13A plug use
a good conductor such as brass for their main contacts. Phosphor bronze, an alloy
of copper and tin with some phosphorous, is springy in nature and useful for
contacts such as the fuse holder in a mains plug, as well as "brushes" used to
carry current between the stationary and rotating parts in some electric motors.
The best metal conductor of all is pure silver; however it has two drawbacks. Its
surface readily tarnishes when exposed to air, this creates a high resistance
surface that reduces its conductivity. Although this doesn't cause a great problem
in high voltage conductors, it can significantly reduce conduction in low voltage
applications such as switch or plug/socket contacts. Silver is also expensive
compared to other metals such as copper (the second best metal conductor).
Although Copper is the most popular metal for electrical conductors,it also Fig. 1.1.1 Conductivity of
Metals
tarnishes, so copper conductors are often plated with less tarnishable metals such as
nickel. For optimum contact conduction in low voltage applications however, gold
plating is used because, although slightly less conductive than pure copper, gold does
not tarnish.

Gold plating is commonly used to reduce 'skin effect' in conductors used for high
frequency current applications. Skin effect is the tendency of high frequency currents
to flow mainly close to the surface of the conductor. Using gold plating therefore
provides a current path with a resistance only slightly worse than copper in the body
of the cable, but considerably better that the tarnished outer layer of the cable or
connector. Hence it is common to see gold plated sockets and connectors in devices
such as mobile phones and even audio equipment.

Conductive Gases
Some gases can pass current, such as neon for example, which produces a typical
orange glow when a small electric current is passed though it at a high voltage. Neon
indicator lamps have many uses and can be used with either AC or DC current.
In neon and fluorescent lighting, colours other than orange can be produced by
adding gases such as argon, mercury, or helium at low pressure. Light is produced by
applying a high voltage between two electrodes at either end of the tube, which
causes the gas molecules to ionise and so emit photons, giving light either directly
through the clear glass tube, or indirectly by exciting a phosphor coating on the wall
of the tube to give a greater range of colours.

Insulators
Materials that prevent the flow of electric current are called INSULATORS. These are
mostly solid materials in which the outer electrons of each atom are tightly bonded
to the nucleus of the atom, preventing any electron movement within a ‘normal
range’ of applied voltage. Materials commonly used in electronic circuits include:

Plastics (e.g. Polystyrene, PVC Bakelite and Polythene)

Glass (including Fibre Glass)

Ceramics

Resins (e.g. epoxy resins)

Paper (usually impregnated with wax, resin etc.)

Rubber (Natural or synthetic)
Air

Both the terms "Insulator" and "Conductor" are relative. That is, they each have
some properties of the other as well as their own. For example an insulator may pass
very small currents, but not sufficiently to be called a conductor. An insulator can
work well at low voltages, such as those found in battery operated equipment, but
fail totally and pass large currents if connected to a much higher voltage..

MODULE 2.1— Materials in Circuits

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

After studying this section, you should be able to:

• Identify electrical conductors on a PCB.

• Identify common insulating and conducting materials and their uses on a PCB.
Conductors and Insulators in circuit boards.
A good example of how various materials are used for conductors and
insulators in electronics can be seen on the printed circuit board shown in
Fig. 2.1.

Fig. 2.1 Micro-controller Circuit Board

The conducting strips are made from copper, which is a very good
conductor.
Electrical connections between the components and copper strips are
made with solder (mainly tin), which is another good conductor, and has
the advantages of being easy to melt, as well as making good electrical
and mechanical contact.
The board itself is made from a good insulator, usually paper impregnated
with resin, which is known as SRBP (synthetic resin bonded paper), or in
high quality boards from glass-fiber board. Glass, paper and resin are all
very good insulators.
The contacts of the chip holder are gold plated. This gives an excellent low
resistance contact and also prevents tarnishing (oxidization), which would
otherwise increase the contact resistance over time.
The chip is encapsulated in black resin; this gives good electrical insulation
and, being black, provides good heat conduction to disperse heat
generated within the chip.

Fig. 2.1 Micro-controller Circuit Board

 MODULE 2.2— Resistance in Conductors

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

After studying this section, you should be able to:

• Calculate the dimensions of a conductor.

• Describe the effect of length and cross sectional area on the resistance of a conductor.
How the Dimensions of a Conductor Affect its
Resistance?
A conductor is any material that will allow an electrical current to flow
through it. The ability of any conductor in an electrical circuit to pass cur-
rent is judged by its electrical RESISTANCE. Resistance is the ability to
OPPOSE the flow of electric current. Voltage is the electrical force that
causes current to flow through a conductor, but the greater the value of re-
sistance of any conductor, the less current will flow for any particular value
of voltage applied. The resistance of a conductor depends mainly on three
things:
1. The LENGTH of the conductor.
2. The CROSS SECTIONAL AREA of the conductor.
3. The MATERIAL of which the conductor is made.
Because the resistance is greater in longer conductors than in shorter
ones, then:

RESISTANCE (R) IS PROPORTIONAL TO LENGTH (L)

and is written as R L( means proportional to...)

Therefore the longer the conductor, the more resistance is present

and so less current flows.

Also, because resistance is less in conductors with a large

cross sectional area:
RESISTANCE (R) IS INVERSELY PROPORTIONAL TO CROSS SECTIONAL AREA (A)

Which is written as R 1/A (or R A-1).

The greater the cross sectional area, the more current can flow along the conductor, so the
lower the value of the conductor´s resistance.

Circular Conductors

When the conductor has a circular cross section, the area of a circle can be found by using the
formula:

π r2 Where π = 3.142 and r is the radius of the circle.

If the cross section of the conductor is square or rectangular, the cross sectional area of the
conductor can still be found by simply multiplying the width by the height. Most conductors,
found in cables etc. are of course circular in cross section.

The Material from which the conductor is made also affects its resistance, by an amount
depending on the RESISTIVITY of the material, described in Resistors & Circuits Module
 MODULE 2.3— Resistivity

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

After studying this section, you should be able to:

• Describe the property of resistivity.

• Carry out calculations involving resistivity.

• Use appropriate electrical units (Ωm) to describe the resistivity of common conductor & insulator materials
How Materials Affect Resistance?
Provided that the dimensions (length and cross sectional area) of any conductor do not change, its resistance
will remain the same. If two conductors of exactly the same dimensions have a different resistance, they must
be made of different materials.
One way to describe a material (any material) is by its RESISTIVITY. This is the amount of resistance present in a
piece of the material OF STANDARD DIMENSIONS. Every material can be defined in this way. The resistivity of a
material is defined as the resistance of a piece of material having a length of one metre and a cross sectional
area of one square metre (i.e. a cube of material one metre square). The resistivity of the material being the
resistance across opposite faces of this standard cube.

Resistivity is given the symbol ρ. This is not a letter p but a lower case Greek letter r (called rho) and is meas-
ured in a unit called the OHM METER, written Ω•m .

(Note: this is not the same as ohms/metre or ohms per metre)

So the resistance of any conductor can be found by relating the three factors;

Length: = L Cross Sectional Area: = A Resistivity: = ρ

The following formula can be used to find the resistance of any conductor, providing that its dimensions and its
resistivity are known.

Remember that, as conductors are usually circular in section, the cross sectional area may need to be found
using the basic formula for the area of a circle. i.e. A = π r2 or A = π(d/2)2 where r and d are the given radius
and given diameter, respectively, and π = 3.142.
Important
When using this (or any) formula you must convert any sub-unit (mm, cm etc.) into
its STANDARD SI UNIT e.g Metres (m). Otherwise your result may be out by a factor
of 100 or 1000 or more.
Resistivity problems can be tricky to work out since you have to remember several
things at once, using the cross sectional area formula AND the resistivity formula to-
gether, converting to standard SI units, and using resistivity constants. Maybe you
could use a little practice? Try a short Resistivity Quiz and if you need a little help
with the maths, download our "Maths Tips" booklet to get you started.

Approximate Resistivity of some common materials. (in Ωm)

CONDUCTORS
Aluminium 2.7 x 10-8
Copper 1.72 x 10-8
Iron 10.5 x 10-8
Mercury 96 x 10-8
Nichrome 1.1 x10-6

INSULATORS
P.V.C. 5.4 x 1015
Glass 1.0 x 1014
Mica 9.0 x 1013
Teflon 1.0 x 1024
Hard Rubber 10 x 1012
It can be seen from the above list that the resistivity of insulators is much higher than
that of conductors.
 MODULE 2.4— Temperature Effects on Resistance

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

After studying this section, you should be able to:

• Describe the effect of temperature on the resistance of a conductor.

• Describe the effect of temperature on the resistance of an insulator.

• Define negative and positive temperature coefficients.

How Temperature Changes Resistance?
Although the resistance of a conductor changes with the size of the conductor (e.g. thicker wires have less
resistance to current flow than thinner wires), the resistance of a conductor also changes with changing
temperature. This may be expected to happen because, as temperature changes, the dimensions of the
conductor will change as it expands or contracts.
However, materials that are classed as CONDUCTORS tend to INCREASE their resistance with an increase in
temperature. INSULATORS however are liable to DECREASE their resistance with an increase in temperature.
Materials used for practical insulators (glass, plastic etc.) only exhibit a marked drop in their resistance at very
high temperatures. They remain good insulators over all temperatures they are likely to encounter in use.

These changes in resistance cannot therefore be explained by a change in dimensions due to thermal expansion
or contraction. In fact for a given size of conductor the change in resistance is due mainly to a change in the
resistivity of the material, and is caused by the changing activity of the atoms that make up the material.

Temperature and Atomic Structure

The reasons for these changes in resistivity can be explained by considering the flow of current through the
material. The flow of current is actually the movement of electrons from one atom to another under the
influence of an electric field. Electrons are very small negatively charged particles and will be repelled by a
negative electric charge and attracted by a positive electric charge. Therefore if an electric potential is applied
across a conductor (positive at one end, negative at the other) electrons will "migrate" from atom to atom
towards the positive terminal.

Only some electrons are free to migrate however. Others within each atom are held so tightly to their
particular atom that even an electric field will not dislodge them. The current flowing in the material is
therefore due to the movement of "free electrons" and the number of free electrons within any material
compared with those tightly bound to their atoms is what governs whether a material is a good conductor
(many free electrons) or a good insulator (hardly any free electrons).
The effect of heat on the atomic structure of a material is to make the atoms vibrate, and the higher the
temperature the more violently the atoms vibrate.
In a conductor, which already has a large number of free electrons flowing through it, the vibration of the at-
oms causes many collisions between the free electrons and the captive electrons. Each collision uses up some
energy from the free electron and is the basic cause of resistance. The more the atoms jostle around in the ma-
terial, the more collisions are caused and hence the greater the resistance to current flow.

In an insulator however, there is a slightly different situation. There are so few free electrons that hardly any
current can flow. Almost all the electrons are tightly bound within their particular atom. Heating an insulating
material vibrates the atoms, and if heated sufficiently, the atoms vibrate violently enough to actually shake
some of their captive electrons free, creating free electrons to become carriers of current. Therefore at high
temperatures the resistance of an insulator can fall, and in some insulating materials, quite dramatically.
In a material where the resistance INCREASES with an increase in temperature, the material is said to have a
POSITIVE TEMPERATURE COEFFICIENT.

When resistance FALLS with an increase in temperature, the material is said to have a NEGATIVE TEMPERA-
TURE COEFFICIENT.

In general, conductors have a POSITIVE temperature coefficient, whilst (at high temperatures) insulators have a
NEGATIVE temperature coefficient.

Different materials within either group have different temperature coefficients. Materials chosen for the con-
struction of the resistors used in electronic circuits are carefully selected conductors that have a very low posi-
tive temperature coefficient. In use, resistors made from such materials will have only very slight increases in
resistivity, and therefore their resistance. Using such materials for the manufacture of resistors creates compo-
nents whose value changes only slightly over a given range of temperature.

Materials chosen as insulators will have a very low NEGATIVE TEMPERATURE COEFFICIENT over their working
range of temperature.
 Learning Activities
Do not submit

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

After studying this section, you should be able to:

• Descibe common materials used in electronic circuits.

• Relate resistance to the dimensions and resistivity of a conductor.

• Calculate the cross sectional area of conductors.

• Carry out calculations involving resistivity & resistance.

Try a few calculations based on Resistivity. For these you just need to use the information on
the Resistivity and Resistance in conductors pages. Hopefully it'll be a breeze. Because you may be using more
than one formula for any problem it is important to remember to use the correct formula at the right time.
Before you start, these few tips may make the problems easier if you follow them carefully.

1. Work out the answers using pencil and paper; if you don't write out the problem you WILL get mixed up
half way through and end up with the wrong answer.

2. Of course the answer is not just a number, it will be a certain number of Ohms or metres, don't forget to
show the correct unit (e.g. Ω) or your answer is meaningless.

3. Convert all sub units such as mm to metres when you put them into the appropriate formula. If you slip up
here you'll get really stupid answers, thousands of times too big or too small.

To help you on the right track why not download our Maths Tips booklet, which shows how to use your
calculator with exponents and engineering notation to deal with those sub-units and get the right answer every
time.

OK so now you have read these instructions, you are ready to start. Here is a way to set out a typical problem
on paper so you (with practice) don't get confused.

First, list all the values given in the problem, followed by the value that needs to be found for the answer. For
example if the problem asks for the resistance of a cable of given dimensions and material, the following list
can be made:

ρ (of copper) = 1.7 x 10-8 Ωm (17 E-9 or 17 EXP-9 when entering it into your calculator in Standard Form,
depending on which model you use)
L (Length of cable) = 7m

d (Diameter of cable) = 0.5mm

(500 E-6 or 500 EXP-6 metres in Standard Form)

A (Cross Sectional Area of cable in square metres) = π(d/2)2 = 3.142 x ((500 EXP-6/2)2) = 196.4 EXP-9m2
Therefore returning to the formula R = (ρL) / A

ρ = (17 EXP-9Ωm (Ohm meters)

L = 7m (metres) and the cross sectional area A = 196.4 EXP-9m2 (square meters)

So = R = (ρL) / A = (17 EXP-9 x 7) / 196.4 EXP-9 =605mΩ (just over 0.5 ohm)
Note that when the diameter (or the radius) of a cable is given it is necessary to firstly work out its cross
sectional area in square metres (m2) before the formula relating R, to ρ, length and cross sectional area can be
used. Look at the "Resistivity" page for more help in working out the cross sectional area.
 Assignment
Submit on or before the deadline in the Google Classroom

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

After studying this section, you should be able to:

• Identify the electrical wirings and materials used in your home.

• Identify the cross sectional area of the wire.

• Draw an electrical diagram in every station of the house.

 Worksheet
Submit on or before the deadline in the Google Classroom

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

After studying this section, you should be able to:

• Identify the electrical wirings and materials used in your home.

• Identify the cross sectional area of the wire or (gauge number)

• Draw an electrical diagram in every station of the house.

 Activity # 2—Insulators and Conductors

Instructions: Use the suggested format for the activity/assignment template. For your drawing, you can use any editing ap-
plication then copy and paste it to the template.

1. Identify the type of wirings installed in every station in your home. Complete the table below:

Area Type of wire

Example
Kitchen THHN Stranded Copper Wire

2. Identify the cross sectional area of the wire or gauge number in every station of the house

Area Gauge Number

Example
Kitchen #16

3. Draw the electrical wiring diagram in every station of the house.

Example: Kitchen
 Activity # 2—Insulators and Conductors

Instructions: Use the suggested format for the activity/assignment template. For your drawing, you can use any editing ap-
plication then copy and paste it to the template.

4. Pictured below are six complete electrical circuits. On another sheet of paper, draw the
schematic diagram for each circuit.
 Activity # 2—Insulators and Conductors

Instructions: Use the suggested format for the activity/assignment template. For your drawing, you can use any editing ap-
plication then copy and paste it to the template.

5. Read the schematic diagrams below. Construct the circuits shown below using batteries,
bulbs, battery holders and bulb holders.

6. Will the bulb light if you construct the circuit below? Why or why not?