Does paper conduct electricity?

An insulator when dry, and used as one — oil-impregnated paper insulated high-voltage cable for most of the twentieth century.

How it compares

The ones that surprise people

• Diamond is an electrical insulator and simultaneously the best thermal conductor known — about five times better than copper at moving heat. Structure decides both, not composition.
• Graphite is the same element as diamond and conducts electricity well, because its layered structure leaves one electron per atom free to move.
• Carbon fibre conducts. People treat composites as plastic, and lightning strike protection on composite aircraft is a serious design problem because of it.
• Pure water is an insulator. Tap water conducts because of dissolved ions — the hazard is what is in the water, not the water.
• Air is an excellent insulator until roughly 3 kV per millimetre, at which point it ionises and conducts. That is what a spark is.