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Having the property of transmitting electric force without conduction; insulating.
‘The basic assumption is that electronic dielectric response is everywhere uniform.’
‘An electrically polarizable object will be trapped in a region of a focused electric field, provided there is sufficient dielectric response to overcome thermal energy and the electrophoretic force.’
‘The conductance caused by dielectric breakdown of membranes is proportional to the amplitude and duration of the electric field.’
‘The accumulation of excessive electric charge in dielectric insulation is extremely rare, but when it does occur, it is often catastrophic.’
‘Under normal circumstances, very few high-energy electrons lodge in the dielectric materials, and most naturally leak away over time.’
noun
Physics
A medium or substance that transmits electric force without conduction; an insulator.
‘The dielectric can be air, paper, plastic or anything else that does not conduct electricity and keeps the plates from touching each other.’
‘In many photonic structures composed of two or more dielectrics, the absolute value of the refractive index contrast is critical to performance.’
‘But low-k dielectrics improve the insulation between the circuits, thus allowing efficient transistor switching without the need for excessive power, and consequently without the extra heat.’
‘This differs from the usual approach, which embeds the side chain directly within the protein dielectric.’
‘At that size, it expects to make use of new materials and high-k dielectrics.’
Origin
Mid 19th century: from di- + electric, literally ‘across which electricity is transmitted (without conduction)’.