Electrical conductors and insulators

​​In a nutshell

All materials are either conductors or insulators depending on how they let electricity flow through them. A mixture of both conductors and insulators are used when making electrical appliances safe and efficient. 

Conductors

Conductors allow electricity to flow very easily. For this reason conductors are used a lot with electrical appliances. 

Insulators

Insulators do not allow current to flow through them very easily. This is why they are used as safety barriers against electricity. 

Example

A plug will have a plastic casing and the wire will have a plastic sleeve on it. Plastic is a very good insulator and will stop you getting a shock when you plug the plug into the wall.

The parts of the plug which need to conduct electricity like the wire and the pins, will be made out of a good conductor like copper. 

The reason a material is either a conductor or an insulator depends on what it is made out of. A lot of metals are conductors and a lot of plastics are insulators.