Ooviya's Physics Homework Blog: Insulators & Conductors

Physics homework for 2/4/15:

Day Full of Insulators and Conductors

Today we came back from the barren snow days of the weekend and we focused on atoms as well as on insulators and on conductors.

So one conductor I came in contact with today was metal (mostly iron) from chairs and as well as from other things like knives as well as door knobs and what have you. For example, I had to make myself a delicious sandwich this morning and I needed to spread the cream cheese onto it so I grabbed a knife to help with that. After spreading the cheese and all that mumbo jumbo I had to wash the knife off and I noticed a few things about the knife. One, it was pretty light looking and what not but it actually feels pretty dense and fairly cold once you touch it. Especially after running it through some cold water. I knew the knife's metal was a conductor because conductors allow electrons to move, meaning the knife would take my electrons and would let them flow through the knife easily which I felt. I instantly felt cold on contact with the metal meaning the metal must have let my heat/electrons flow through it. Plus, I know that metals are conductors but that doesn't cover all the electrons and stuff.

As for an insulator, today I obviously came in contact with air and what not, but I also came in contact with things like plastic and wood from my writing utensils as well as certain fabrics from my clothing. But wood will be used as the main example. When writing with my pencils they usually always feel light and not so dense, plus not cold or hot unless say I've been holding it tightly in my hand for hours or say unless they've been outside in a cold environment for quite some time. So it usually feels like a moderate temperature whenever I hold a pencil. Pencils are definitely insulators as insulators don't allow electrons to flow through and that's exactly what it felt like. Whenever I touched a pencil I was never given heat and I usually never gave heat or any electrons, I just remained the same similar temperature. Of course some transfer must have occurred, but it must have been significantly small.

Now, both items are different as one item allows electrons to flow freely through and the other doesn't allow them to flow freely through. They also are composed of different materials with different densities. Additionally, when felt both items do not feel the same temperature-wise as one item takes more heat and as the other item just does barely anything. Also, if you were to conduct electricity through these materials then the metal would make a great conductor for the electricity while the wood wouldn't allow the electrons to go through the wood and what not. These are the main differences, I believe.

Aww :33 <3