Static
Electricity
Review:
What is inside the atom?
 The
atom is made of 3 kinds
of particles.
The electron
The proton
The neutron
The Atom
-
o
+
o
- +++
o
o
o
+
-
+
+
-
Charges
+
+
-
-
Charges
+
-
Insulators and Conductors

Insulators don’t
let electrons flow
through them

Conductors let
electrons flow
through them
Electrons stay stuck on the surface and don’t move—
That’s STATIC ELECTRICITY!
Charged Objects
Neutral
Object
+ - +
-+-
+++
-++
Positively Charged
Object
+--+Negatively Charged
Object
How Do They Become
Charged?

Contact
Electrons get
passed from one
object to the other
when they touch

Induction
Electrons in the
object move away
or towards another
charged object is
placed close to it
Friction
- + - +
- +
+
-
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+
+
+
-
+
+ -
+
-
- + - +
- +
+
-
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+
+
-
+
+ -
+
-
- + - +
- +
+
-
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+
+
-
+
+ -
+
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- + - +
- +
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-
+
+ -
+
-
- + - +
- +
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+ -
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+ -
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-
What happens
when you rub a
balloon on your
head and put it
against the wall?
http://phet.colorado.edu/sims/balloons/balloons_en.jnlp
Uses of Static Electricity
Spraying a Car
Positive Car
Negative
Spraygun
The paint spreads out as each negative drop
repels
No paint is wasted as the positive car attracts
the negative paint
Removing Smoke from Power Station
Chimnies
No smoke leaves
the chimney
Positive
Plate
Negative
Plate
Charge up the Smoke
Earthing Petrol Tankers
Petrol rubbing against the pipe can build
up a static charge which could cause an
explosion
The tanker is joined to the ground
with a wire to stop a charge
building up
Lightning
What causes lightning?



Lightning is actually
just static electricity
on a much larger
scale.
The rubbing is
caused by air
moving around
In thunderclouds
bottom is usually
negative and top is
positive.
References


A Dercho
Investigating Science 9 -Pearson