What are similarities of conductor and insulator?

Answer 1

They both conduct electric current. Conductors do large currents with a very small applied voltage, and insulators do very small currents with very large applied voltages. They are both matter.

Answer 2

Conductors are materials like copper or aluminum, that have only a few electrons in the outer electron shells of their atoms. These electrons are easily knocked loose, or are already moving around in the crystalline structure of the material. With the the application of a potential (voltage) these electrons will move away from the negative polarity and towards the positive polarity. We call this flow of electrons "current".

Insulators, on the other hand, have complete outer electron shells (8 atoms) and the electrons are bound tight to the atoms. Or, the materials are compounds that otherwise tightly bind the electrons. Therefore, no electrons are available for current. The electrons can be knocked loose if a sufficiently high voltage is applied to a material, but commercial insulators (like the plastic coating of wires and conductors) are designed to accommodate their specified voltages, such as 600V, without breaking down.

Answer 3

Insulators and conductors perform completely opposite functions. Insulators prevent (or insulate) against electricity and conductors carry electricity to someplace. An electrical cord on an appliance, for instance has a metal wire inside to conduct the electricity from the plug to the appliance and rubber or plastic outside to insulate the wire so the electricity does not go anywhere else but the appliance.

Answer 4

Both conductors and insulators deal with the electric conductivity of a surface or material. Everything is either a conductor or an insulator. It is a conductor if it readily allows electrons to flow across it, when there is a potential voltage differential between two points on the surface. An item is an insulator if it inhibits current flow.

They are similar in that they both deal with conductivity of materials, and they are on opposite ends of a conductivity scale.

Answer 5

They are not alike at all. A conductor allows for the free passage of electrons throughout its body, while an insulator does not allow electrons to flow through its body.