While silicon density doubles approximately every 18 months, following Moore’s law, PWB electrical technology advances much more slowly. Maintaining low cost PWBs on copper is imperative to meet the worlds need for low cost computing. Fundamental understanding of PWB building blocks harnesses design margin that would otherwise be lost. This work will explain the interactions between a charged particle and an electric field and show how these interactions result in electrical losses within dielectrics. It will provide an explanation for additional losses caused by the roughness of copper concluding with comparisons between measured results and a predictive model.