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Perfect conductor
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<p>In <a href="/facts/Electrostatics/bxkuW6s4">electrostatics</a>, a perfect conductor is an idealized model for real conducting materials. The defining property of a perfect conductor is that static <a href="/facts/Electric_field/tt4MooBs">electric field</a> and the <a href="/facts/Charge_density/xFDPXUDM">charge density</a> both vanish in its interior. If the conductor has excess charge, it accumulates as an infinitesimally thin layer of <a href="/facts/Surface_charge/p067lYHS">surface charge</a>. An external electric field is screened from the interior of the material by rearrangement of the surface charge. </p><p>Alternatively, a perfect conductor is an idealized material exhibiting infinite <a href="/facts/Electrical_conductivity/akyCKvMy">electrical conductivity</a> or, equivalently, zero <a href="/facts/Resistivity/akyCKvMy">resistivity</a> (<a href="/facts/Cf./hdmpMAfU">cf.</a> <a href="/facts/Perfect_dielectric/PnVt9P2G">perfect dielectric</a>). While perfect <a href="/facts/Electrical_conductor/BSuyupLP">electrical conductors</a> do not exist in nature, the concept is a useful model when <a href="/facts/Electrical_resistance/hxSt0UAj">electrical resistance</a> is negligible compared to other effects. One example is <a href="/facts/Magnetohydrodynamics/7mQbJPPD">ideal magnetohydrodynamics</a>, the study of perfectly conductive fluids. Another example is electrical <a href="/facts/Circuit_diagram/Vqk3udN0">circuit diagrams</a>, which carry the implicit assumption that the wires connecting the components have no resistance. Yet another example is in <a href="/facts/Computational_electromagnetics/uJKnwCar">computational electromagnetics</a>, where perfect conductor can be simulated faster, since the parts of equations that take finite conductivity into account can be neglected. </p>