Making an insulator become a conductor?

mino206

Good afternoon(or good morning,it depends on where you are ),this is my first topic in this great forum so don't be very tough with me okay?
My question concerns the means of producing electricity and to be more precise:Electromagnetism.
I read that if you move a conductor(such as copper for example)into a magnetic field,the valence electrons of its atoms will move out of their atoms(will be "freed")because of the energie provided by this magnetic field.
So I was wondering:What if we move an insulator this time(plastic for example)into a huge and very strong magnetic field,strong enough to provide the needed energie for all the valence electrons in order to be freed.Does this mean that the plastic has become a conductor?
Best Rigards,
mino206

mgb_phys

Insulator and conductor are just two ends of the scale.
Everything is a conductor to some extent - if you grab hold of a powerline you would conduct!

russ_watters

In other words, yes, if you put enough voltage to just about anything, its electrons will move.

DaleSpam

This is often called "dielectric breakdown".