Static Electricity

What is Static Electricity?

Everything is made up of tiny parts named atoms. The atoms are made of even smaller parts. The even smaller parts are called protons, neutrons and electrons. The small parts are very different from each other. For example, if we're talking about "charge", Electrons have a negative charge, Protons have a positive charge, while Neutrons have no charge at all...

Static electricity Examples:

Picture 1:

When you take your jacket off, Electrons move from your hair to the jacket. Now each of them items have the same charge, which is positive. Things with the same charge force back each other. So the hairs try to move away from each other. The farthest they can get is to stand up and away from all the other hairs.

Picture 2:

Uses of static electricity:

The Van de Graaff Generator:

the Van de Graaff generator is a device designed to create static electricity which an American physicist, Robert Jemison Van de Graaff, invented n 1931. It can make extremely high voltages which can be as high as 20 million volts!

Picture 3:

In this picture, somebody is being shocked by a doorknob. The shock is caused by static electricity because when you touch a metal doorknob, a spark goes from your fingers to the doorknob which causes an electric shock which is very common.

BrainPop! :- Static Electricity

An example of static electricity is when you get an electric shock walk across a carpet and touch a door knob because electrons move from the rug to you because then you have extra electrons. Everything is made up of tiny parts named atoms. The atoms are made of even smaller parts. The even smaller parts are called protons, neutrons and electrons. The small parts are very different from each other. For example, if we're talking about "charge", Electrons have a negative charge, Protons have a positive charge, while Neutrons have no charge at all. If two things have different charges, they attract, or pull towards each other. If two things have the same charge, they repel, or push away from each other. Static electricity is best described as a one-time shock of electricity, like the electricity from a lightning bolt.