Are current-carrying wires made of dielectric material?

[lonewolf219]

Here is an excerpt from my textbook:

"Ordinarily, this charge would simultaneously generate so large an electric force as to swamp the magnetic one. But if we arrange to keep the wire neutral, by embedding in it equal amount of opposite charge at rest, the electric field cancels out, leaving the magnetic field to stand alone."

If I understand correctly, this means that the current inside a wire produces an electric field, but that electric field vanishes inside a conducting wire.

My question is if the electric field inside the wire would still cancel if the material was a dielectric?

 

[UltrafastPED]

Dielectrics cannot carry a current; they are generally insulators.

Wires are made of conductors, typically metals.

 

[lonewolf219]

UltrafastPED: Thanks for the reply!