ABSTRACT
Electric charge is a fundamental quantity of subatomic particles, along with mass and other forces that govern interactions between these particles. While resistivity and conductivity are parameters that describe the way in which a material interferes with an electrical current, they do not describe the specific extent of the interference for a particular piece of that material. Polarization is the process of charge redistribution in an electric field, such that positive and negative charges are centered in different places. The greater the relative permittivity of the material, the greater the effect of charge redistribution and the longer the charges take to dissipate; thus, the greater the effective “stored charge” and the greater the capacitance. Many molecules possess permanent dipoles, where there are fixed regions of positive and negative charge that are not entered at the same point.
