Conductor or Insulator Sort worksheet - Free Printable

Let’s go step by step to sort each object into Conductor or Insulator.

First, remember:
- A conductor lets electricity flow through it easily. Most metals are conductors.
- An insulator does NOT let electricity flow through it. Things like plastic, wood, paper, and cloth are usually insulators.

Now, let’s look at each item one by one:

1. nail → made of metal → Conductor
2. piece of string → usually cotton or synthetic fiber → Insulator
3. paperclip → metal → Conductor
4. metal spoon → metal → Conductor
5. ruler → if it’s plastic (most school rulers are), then Insulator. If wooden, still insulator. We’ll assume plastic/wood → Insulator
6. pencil → mostly wood and graphite inside — but the outside is wood, and we’re sorting the whole object. Wood doesn’t conduct well → Insulator *(Note: Graphite can conduct, but in a pencil, it’s enclosed and not used as a conductor here)*
7. toy car → usually plastic body → Insulator
8. 50-peso bill → paper money → Insulator
9. 1 peso coin → metal → Conductor
10. piece of wood → wood doesn’t conduct → Insulator
11. aluminum foil → metal → Conductor
12. key → metal → Conductor
13. plastic spoon → plastic → Insulator
14. piece of card → cardboard/paper → Insulator
15. piece of paper → paper → Insulator
16. steel wool → made of steel (metal) → Conductor

Now, let’s count how many we have for each:

✔ Conductors (8 items):
- nail
- paperclip
- metal spoon
- 1 peso coin
- aluminum foil
- key
- steel wool
→ Wait, that’s only 7? Let me check again…

Wait — I missed one! Let’s list them again carefully:

From above:
1. nail → Conductor
3. paperclip → Conductor
4. metal spoon → Conductor
9. 1 peso coin → Conductor
11. aluminum foil → Conductor
12. key → Conductor
16. steel wool → Conductor

That’s 7. But there are 16 total items. So 9 should be insulators? Let’s recount insulators:

2. piece of string → Insulator
5. ruler → Insulator
6. pencil → Insulator
7. toy car → Insulator
8. 50-peso bill → Insulator
10. piece of wood → Insulator
13. plastic spoon → Insulator
14. piece of card → Insulator
15. piece of paper → Insulator

That’s 9 insulators. And 7 conductors? But 7 + 9 = 16 — correct.

Wait — did I miss a conductor? Let’s double-check the original list:

Original list has 16 items:

Row 1: nail, piece of string, paperclip, metal spoon → 2 conductors (nail, paperclip, metal spoon) → wait, that’s 3? No:

Actually:

Row 1:
- nail → C
- piece of string → I
- paperclip → C
- metal spoon → C → so 3 conductors in row 1

Row 2:
- ruler → I
- pencil → I
- toy car → I
- 50-peso bill → I → all 4 insulators

Row 3:
- 1 peso coin → C
- piece of wood → I
- aluminum foil → C
- key → C → 3 conductors, 1 insulator

Row 4:
- plastic spoon → I
- piece of card → I
- piece of paper → I
- steel wool → C → 1 conductor, 3 insulators

Now add up conductors:
Row 1: 3 (nail, paperclip, metal spoon)
Row 3: 3 (1 peso coin, aluminum foil, key)
Row 4: 1 (steel wool)
Total conductors = 3 + 3 + 1 = 7

Insulators:
Row 1: 1 (string)
Row 2: 4 (all)
Row 3: 1 (wood)
Row 4: 3 (plastic spoon, card, paper)
Total insulators = 1 + 4 + 1 + 3 = 9

Yes, 7 conductors and 9 insulators.

But looking at the worksheet, under “Conductor” there are 10 boxes (5 rows × 2 columns), and same for “Insulator”. That means they expect us to fill all boxes? Or maybe some will be left blank? But since there are only 16 items, and 20 boxes total (10 per category), perhaps we just write the ones we have.

Wait — actually, looking back at the image description, the table under “Conductor” has 5 rows with 2 boxes each → 10 boxes. Same for “Insulator”. But we only have 7 conductors and 9 insulators. So we’ll fill 7 in conductor column and 9 in insulator column, leaving 3 boxes empty in conductor side and 1 empty in insulator side? But that seems odd.

Alternatively, maybe I miscounted. Let me list ALL 16 items again with classification:

1. nail → Conductor
2. piece of string → Insulator
3. paperclip → Conductor
4. metal spoon → Conductor
5. ruler → Insulator
6. pencil → Insulator
7. toy car → Insulator
8. 50-peso bill → Insulator
9. 1 peso coin → Conductor
10. piece of wood → Insulator
11. aluminum foil → Conductor
12. key → Conductor
13. plastic spoon → Insulator
14. piece of card → Insulator
15. piece of paper → Insulator
16. steel wool → Conductor

Conductors: #1, #3, #4, #9, #11, #12, #16 → that’s 7

Insulators: #2, #5, #6, #7, #8, #10, #13, #14, #15 → that’s 9

Yes, confirmed.

So for the answer, we’ll list the 7 conductors and 9 insulators in their respective columns. Since the worksheet has space for more, we just fill what we have.

Final Answer:

Conductor:
- nail
- paperclip
- metal spoon
- 1 peso coin
- aluminum foil
- key
- steel wool

Insulator:
- piece of string
- ruler
- pencil
- toy car
- 50-peso bill
- piece of wood
- plastic spoon
- piece of card
- piece of paper