- Static electricity is electric charge held by a charged insulator.
- Electrostatic charge is a property of an object that causes it to attract or repel other objects with charge.
- Positive charge is the type of electric charge carried in the nucleus of an atom.
- Negative charge is the type of electric charge carried by electrons.
- Static electricity is experienced in various ways:
- lightning flashes
- taking off clothes made of synthetic fibres
- rubbing a balloon on your hair and sticks to a wall
- the shock when getting out or into a car.
- In that small shock, an electrostatic charge was built up on the car and then discharged through you when you touch the metal door.
- WHen you rub a plastic object (in this case, a balloon) with a cloth, both are likely to become electrically charged.
- This can be indicated by holding the balloon or cloth close to your hair. They attract the hair.
- Static electricity is generated by friction.
- A charged object may attract uncharged objects.
- This experiment investigates the phenomenon of the types of static electricity.
- A polythene rod is rubbed with a cloth so that both objects become charged.
- The rod is hung in a cradle so that it is free to move.
- When the cloth is brought close to it, the rod moves towards the cloth.
- When a second rod is rubbed in the same way and brought close to the first rod, the handing rod moves away.
- This demonstrates attraction and repulsion.
- There are two types of static electricity:
- positive charge, carried in the nucleus of an atom
- negative charge, carried by electrons.
- From the experiment, you are able to say that:
- two positive charges will repel each other
- two negative charges will repel each other
- a positive charge and a negative charge attract each other.
- Similar charges repel, opposite charges attract.