Question

What is the dielectric constant of plastic?

Answer 1

Hint: Any material's property to hold its electrical charge for longer time intervals in large quantities is termed dielectric property. The electrical conductivity of any dielectric material is very weak.

Complete Step by Step Solution:
Though there is the weaker electrical conductivity of a dielectric material it is able to store electrical charges. Some examples of dielectric materials are air, vacuum, etc. Following are the dielectric constant values of some materials.
Glass - 3.8-14.5
Air - 1.00059
Paper - 3.6
Vacuum - 1.00
PVC - 4.0

Let's understand dielectric constant in detail. For any substance, the dielectric constant value means the relative permittivity of the substance. The mathematical expression of dielectric constant is:
\[K = \dfrac{\varepsilon }{{{\varepsilon _0}}}\]
Where K means dielectric constant, \[\varepsilon \]means a substance’s permittivity, and \[{\varepsilon _0}\]means permittivity of free space.

Let's understand the dielectric constant of Plastic. The structure of plastic influences its dielectric properties. They are termed polar or nonpolar considering their structure. There is the absorption of moisture from the atmosphere by polar plastics. Due to the presence of moisture, dielectric constant value increases, and resistivity decreases.
 There is no effect of factors like moisture and temperature on non-polar plastics.

Therefore, the value of the dielectric constant of Plastic (Polyethene) is 2.2-2.3.

Note: The increase of dielectric constant value indicates the maximisation of the value of capacitance. There are many factors that influence the dielectric constant, namely temperature, heating effect, voltage, etc. The dielectric constant has many applications such as communication, chemistry etc. The older name of the dielectric constant is relative permittivity.