Semiconductors have a rare ability to act like both conductors and insulators, depending on how they’re used. This video ...

Fine tuning: a new theoretical framework for controlling a system’s properties using laser beams has been developed. (Courtesy: iStock/Swillklitch) Laser light could turn a normally insulating ...

If there are two classes of matter that electronics people can agree on, its conductors and insulators. Electrically, conductors and insulators don’t have much in common. The same has held true in the ...

Despite significant capital investment by electric utilities in recent years, energy infrastructure across the U.S. received only a C-minus rating in the latest report card from the American Society of ...

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Looking only at their subatomic particles, most materials can be placed into one of two categories. Metals — like copper and iron — have free-flowing electrons that allow them to ...

A semiconductor is a material or device that only conducts electricity under certain conditions. Some elements in the periodic table, such as carbon, silicon, and germanium, are intrinsic ...

A new experiment offers the cleanest proof yet for magnetism-driven transitions of metals to insulators. Like all metals, silver, copper, and gold are conductors. Electrons flow across them, carrying ...

It is a basic principle of quantum theory: sometimes certain physical quantities can only assume very specific values; all the values in between are simply not permitted by physics. This fact plays a ...

Diamond is an effective electrical insulator, but that might not always be the case according to a new study from MIT and Nanyang Technological University (NTU) Singapore. The team has calculated that ...

Tantalum disulfide is a mysterious material. According to textbook theory, it should be a conducting metal, but in the real world it acts like an insulator. Using a scanning tunneling microscope, ...

Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. You probably know that hot tea in a metal cup is far more unpleasant ...