ABSTRACT
Dielectric materials are a special class of substances which, under almost all conditions, are insulators. They have the interesting and useful property that their electrons, ions, or molecules may be polarized under the influence of an external electric field. When such materials are placed between the plates of capacitors they increase the total capacity of these devices. The properties of a capacitor are determined largely by the geometry of its plates. Two parallel plates each with an area, separated by a distance and charged with equal and opposite charges on each plate, will store these charges on the surfaces of the plates when distance is small with respect to the area. Molecules show more complex behaviors than atoms or ions. Some of these may have permanent dipoles, depending upon their charge distributions. These dipoles are affected by the application of external electric fields.
