Dielectrics are also called nonconductors or insulators. When you place some charge on a dielectric, it tends to just stay where you place them. These charges will tend to polarize the molecules of a dielectric, but the charges themselves do not flow. A useful model of a dielectric material is that microscopically it consists of dipoles. A dipole is just two equal but opposite charges separated some distance. We will use this model to study electricity in the presence of dielectrics.
