Dielectric

Dielectric, in Electricity, is any medium that resists the passage of electric quantity. By so resisting, the medium is in a state of strain. It may be fractured if its thickness is sufficiently small or the stress sufficiently great. Dielectrics are important as insulators to localise electricity in definite regions or to localise its line of flow from place to place. Air, glass, ebonite, guttapercha, indiarubber, solid paraffin, and sulphur, are examples of good dielectrics. A vacuum also behaves well in that capacity. [Insulation.]