• theneverfox@pawb.social
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    5 days ago

    Yeah, I was thinking of the other materials used in computers and had a brain fart. Although I think dielectric insulators also let ions through, otherwise it’d just be an insulator

    • swag_money@lemmy.world
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      4 days ago

      so to my understanding the ideal dielectric is a perfect insulator. dielectrics however have some free electrons and the ability to become polarized in the presence of an electric field. this has the benefit of increasing the charge carrying surface area in something like a capacitor. so i think dielectrics are a subset of insulators and by definition do not pass current/free electrons.