Static Electricity P1

Static Electricity P1

1. What is electrostatic charge?

   • The combination of two materials determines which material gains electrons and which loses them.

2. If you rub two insulating materials together electrons may be transferred from one material to another.

3. Like charges REPEL

4. Unlike charges ATTRACT

5. Balloon near water; The water avoids the balloon it moves around the balloon (bends) = unlike charge

6. Balloon near hair/wall; The balloon made hair stand up and the static made it stick to the wall = unlike charge

7. Two rods; The rod on the watch glass moved away from the other rod = like charge

8. Rod near water; The paper got attracted to the plastic, making them stick to it.

9. Electric Shocks

   • When you touch a metal object such as a door knob, you feel a slight electric shock when the negative electrons flow between you and the object

10. Fuels

    • Air crafts build up charge when they move through the air.
      • When they refuel a charge can build up as the fuel moves through the pipes.
        • If there was a spark it could cause an explosion.
          • To prevent this a bonding line is used to connect the aircraft to the air, which discharges the aircraft.

11. When electrostatic is useful...

    • Electrostatic paint spraying...
      • Insecticide spraying
        • Insecticide particles are positive and because they are all positive they repel each other and spread all over the ground
          • The paint is positive and the metal is negative so they attract to each other.

12. Lightning

    • When the ground is hot, it heats the air above it. This warm air rises. As the air rises, water vapour cools and forms a cloud. When air continues to rise, the cloud gets bigger and bigger. In the tops of the clouds, temperature is below freezing and the water vapour turns into ice. Now, the cloud becomes a thundercloud. Lots of small bits of ice bump into each other as they move around. All these collisions cause a build up of electrical charge. Eventually, the whole cloud fills up with electrical charges. Lighter, positively charged particles form at the top of the cloud. Heavier, negatively charged particles sink to the bottom of the cloud. When the positive and negative charges grow large enough, a giant spark - lightning - occurs between the two charges within the cloud. This is like a static electricity sparks you see, but much bigger.