Question

Give examples of poor solid conductors and liquid conductors.

Answer 1

Hint: For a material to conduct electricity it should have free electrons. Rubber and wood are some examples of poor solid conductors and distilled water and coconut oil are examples of poor solid conductors.

Complete answer:
Before moving on the examples of poor solid conductors and liquid conductors let’s discuss the basic concept of current.
We know that the basic concept behind the flow of current is the movement of free electrons. The movement of free electrons is known as the flow of current.

So, a material is a conductor if the material has a lot of free electrons, insulators (can also be called poor insulators) are material that do not have free electrons in them, so this is why conductors conduct electricity and insulators do not conduct electricity.

Some example of poor solid conductors are

i)Rubber – Rubbers are of many types, the most common type of rubber consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene with some other organic compounds and water. Rubber does not have free electrons, so they do not conduct electricity.
ii)Wood - Wood is made up of an organic compound called cellulose. Cellulose cannot conduct electricity so it is a poor conductor.

Some example of poor liquid conductors are

i)Distilled water – Distilled water has no impurities in it, also it has no free electrons. So distilled water is a poor conductor of electricity. But, tap water that we use in our homes contains impurities like ions, etc. (in very small quantities) which gives the water-free electrons, thus tap water can conduct electricity.
ii)Coconut oil – Coconut oil is made up of 99% fat. Coconut oil does not have any free electrons that do not conduct electricity.

Note:
Insulator (Poor conductor) is used in safety equipment where we have to deal with machines with very high voltage current like electricians, etc. It is not like insulators do not conduct any electricity, for example when we pass high voltage currents through the wood, the wood starts burning at certain places instead of smoothly conducting electricity.