Electrical properties

Electrical properties describe how materials respond to electric fields and currents, including their ability to conduct charge, resist its flow, and store electrical energy.

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Electric charge: A fundamental property of matter that produces electric forces and is carried by particles such as electrons and protons. Charge is the quantity that electrical properties describe moving, separating, or storing.
Drift velocity: The average velocity acquired by charge carriers in a material under an applied electric field. Carrier drift converts an applied field into an electric current.
Electrical insulator: A material with very low electrical conductivity that strongly impedes sustained current flow. Insulators are selected where high resistivity prevents unwanted current paths.
Magnetic permeability: A measure of how a material responds to a magnetic field and supports magnetic flux. Permeability describes magnetic response, unlike permittivity's response to electric fields.
Electric field: A vector field that gives the electric force per unit positive test charge at each point. Material response is defined by how fields induce currents and polarization.
Mobility (physics): The proportionality between a charge carrier's drift velocity and the applied electric field. Mobility helps determine conductivity alongside carrier concentration and charge.
Electrical conductor: A material that permits electric charge to move readily through it. Conductors exploit high conductivity to carry current in wires and contacts.
Thermal conductivity: A measure of how readily a material transfers heat through conduction. Heat transport is distinct from electrical conduction, though both depend on material structure.
Electrical conductivity: A measure of how readily a material carries electric current under an applied electric field. Conductivity directly quantifies how easily mobile charges move through a material.
Dielectric polarization: The displacement or alignment of bound charges in an insulating material exposed to an electric field. Its microscopic mechanisms determine how permittivity changes with material and field conditions.