What is Static Electricity?
Static electricity is a buildup of electrical charge. When materials touch, some of the negatively charged electrons get transferred from on material to the other. This leaves one of the objects negatively charged and the other object positively charges. If the two materials are rubbed together even more charge is moved because this increases contact. For example, when we put clothes in a dryer they are tumbles and rub against one another. This moves charge around and some of the items become negatively charged and some become positively charged. When we remove the clothes we often find socks clinging to the backs of sweaters or shirts. This is because opposite charges attract and the socks have received a charge opposite to that of the shirt. Another time we see the effect of static electricity is when we pull a wool hat off our heads on a cold winter day. The wool hat gives a charge to the hair as it rubs against it. Pieces of the hair not have the same charge. Since like charges rep
Here comes your little brother again! He has just learned that if he runs across the carpet and then touches your arm, he will “shock” you. He thinks it is great fun and you think it is annoying. I guess we have all done this before to our siblings, but have you ever wondered why it works? The answer is actually pretty simple. First, you need to know about atoms. An atom has three basic parts, electrons, protons, and neutrons. The protons and neutrons are located inside the nucleus, or center, of an atom, and the electrons surround the nucleus. All three parts have different electrical charges. Protons have a positive charge, electrons have a negative charge, and neutrons don’t have a charge, they are neutral. As long as an atom has the same number of protons as it does electrons, we say that the atom is balanced which means that it is neither positively nor negatively charged. When your little brother runs across the carpet, he changes all that. His feet dragging on the carpet causes
It is useful to think of a model of the atom as similar to the solar system. The nucleus is in the center of the atom, like the sun in the center of the solar system. The electrons orbit around the nucleus like the planets around the sun. Just like in the solar system, the nucleus is large compared to the electrons. The atom is mostly empty space. And the electrons are very far away from the nucleus. While this model is not completely accurate, we can use it to help us understand static electricity. (Note: A more accurate model would show the electrons moving in 3- dimensional volumes with different shapes, called orbitals. This may be discussed in a future issue.
Static electricity is NOT electricity which is static or unmoving. See Static Electricity Misconceptions Instead, “static electricity” is more properly known either as “High Voltage” or “charge-imbalance.” We could also call it “separated electricity” or “contact electrification.” Interesting things only happen whenever a large amount of positive charge is separated from a large amount of negative charge, and it doesn’t matter if the charges are moving. It’s the separation or imbalance which is important. The stillness or static-ness of the charge has nothing to do with it. To learn something about separated charge, see: explaining electricity with colored plastic sheets. Suppose you rub a balloon upon your arm. Hold it near your arm, and your arm hair stands up. You probably don’t realize that it requires around 100,000 volts to make your arm hair rise like that. Rubbing balloons upon arms can easily create potential difference of 100,000 volts or even more. For more on this, see: “St
” or “what is Current Electricity”, different people will give you different answers. This happens because people cannot agree upon the meanings of the words “static electricity” and “current electricity”. This is a serious problem. In science, we want a term like “static electricity” to have just one meaning. When a scientific term aquires several different meanings, people become confused, and they can get into useless arguments about what “static” and “current” really are. Here is a possible solution to this problem. Don’t ask “what is the difference between static and current electricity”. Instead ask “what are the various definitions of the words ‘static electricity’ and ‘current electricity’?” Also ask “how do the meanings of the words cause trouble?” DEFINITION ONE: Static and current electricity are not stuff, they are not energy. Instead they are subject areas, they are groups of things which happen. In technical terms, they are called “classes of phenomena”. What exactly is a
