Electric Circuits

A conductor is used in the wire that makes an electric circuit. An electric circuit is any path along which electrons can flow. Copper and aluminum are often used as conductors. Metals are good conductors of electric current because their atoms don’t hold electrons tightly. This allows electrons to move along from one atom to the next. An electric current flows through good conductors with little resistance. The conductor in a circuit is wrapped with a material called an insulator. An insulator is a material that doesn’t carry electrons. Rubber, plastic, glass, and air are good insulators. They resist the flow of electrons through them. Insulation keeps wires from touching each other and completing an electrical circuit before the electrons can reach a device. When this happens, it is called a short circuit. Some materials are neither conductors nor insulators. Inside many appliances are materials that don’t completely stop the flow of electrons. However, they resist the flow in some way. These materials are called resistors. Materials that resist electric current are important because they allow electric energy to be changed into other forms. The filament in a light bulb, for example, resists the flow of electrons. This resistance produces heat. The filament gets hot enough to glow. Electrons flowing in an electric circuit can produce heat, light, sound, or movement. People use all these results in electric devices. √ What materials make good conductors? What materials make good insulators?