Electric Polarization

Electric polarization is the process in which the charges within a material shift slightly in response to an electric field. This causes the material to develop a temporary separation of positive and negative charges, creating an internal electric field that opposes the external one. For example, when you place a non-conductive object like plastic in an electric field, the molecules within it slightly realign, resulting in the object having a small electric dipole. This phenomenon is fundamental to how capacitors store energy and how insulators respond to electric fields.