Dielectrics in electrical engineering

CLASSICAL electrical engineering views matter from the standpoint of Maxwell´s theory as a means of storing electric and magnetic energy and of dissipating such energy by conduction and other irreversible processes. It considers, for any given material, these properties of storage and dissipation as fixed quantities which may be tabulated under the headings: permittivity (dielectric constant), permeability, and conductivity. After obtaining such tables and setting aside a special corner for dielectrics, defined as nonconductors of electricity,¹ the engineer dismisses the subject of materials and returns into his private world of field vectors and equivalent circuits.