When an electric field is applied to a conductor, there occurs a large scale physical movement of free electrons because these are available in large numbers in Conductor.
On the other hand, if an electric field is applied to an insulator, there is hardly any movement of free electrons because these are just not available in an insulator. Plastics, wood, and rubber are examples of good insulators. Pure water is also an insulator. Tap water, however, contains salts that form ions which can move through the liquid, making it a good conductor.
The insulator is also called the dielectric. There are practically no free electrons in the dielectric. The electrons in dielectric normally remain bounds to their respective molecules.
There are some materials, called semiconductors, which are intermediate between conductors and insulators.
Superconducting materials are the materials which conduct electricity without resistance below a certain temperature. Superconductivity is one of the most exciting phenomena in Physics, because of the peculiar nature and the wide application of this phenomenon. This phenomenon of superconductivity was first discovered by a Dutch physicist, H.K. Onnes. Superconducting materials are having very good electrical and magnetic properties. Before the discovery of superconductors, it is believed that the electrical resistivity of the material becomes zero, only at the absolute temperature.
EXAMIANS
