Why is Static Electricity invisible?
Whenever we create “static electricity” (whenever we create a “charge-imbalance”), the imbalance of charge is very small. Compared to the amount of electric charge already inside everyday matter, the imbalance is too small to make a visible difference. Everyday objects already contain many coulombs of cancelled-out charge in each cubic centimeter of their substance. We could create a visible change if We could add or remove a coulomb’s worth of charge. However, a typical imbalance of charge is incredibly tiny. For example, rubbing a balloon upon your head involves millionths of millionths of coulombs (a decimal point with twelve zeros.) It’s quite literally like a teaspoon of water added or subtracted from an ocean. Pouring a teaspoon of water into the ocean does not make the ocean look different. And if you rub a balloon on your hair, the surface of the balloon doesn’t look any different. Here’s a different way to explain it.
Whenever we create “static electricity” (whenever we create a “charge-imbalance”), the imbalance of charge is very small. Compared to the amount of electric charge already inside everyday matter, the imbalance is too small to make a visible difference. Everyday objects already contain many coulombs of cancelled-out charge in each cubic centimeter of their substance. We could create a visible change if We could add or remove a coulomb’s worth of charge. However, a typical imbalance of charge is incredibly tiny. For example, rubbing a balloon upon your head involves millionths of millionths of coulombs (a decimal point with twelve zeros.) It’s quite literally like a teaspoon of water added or subtracted from an ocean. Pouring a teaspoon of water into the ocean does not make the ocean look different. And if you rub a balloon on your hair, the surface of the balloon doesn’t look any different. Here’s a different way to explain it. Suppose we rub some hair upon some styrofoam under low-humi
