Atoms and Static Electricity

Week Two
This lesson is designed to build on the previous week to include ideas of ions and atomic
charge, how they behave, and demonstrate these with an experiment involving static electricity.

Introduction
Review the parts of an atom and their relation to atomic number from last week. Remind the
students that the atomic number tells you the number of protons in an atom, and that in a “neutral”
atom (ie a typical atom with no net charge) the number of electrons is the same as the number of
protons. However, atoms can also form “ions,” where the number of protons and electrons are unequal
and the atom has a charge.

Lesson
Remind the students that protons have a positive (“plus one”) charge, and electrons have a
negative (“minus one”) charge, and neutrons are neutral (they don't have a charge). When there are
equal numbers of electrons and protons, the charges cancel out. If they have not seen positive and
negative numbers in math, this might be a good time to review. Draw a hydrogen atom (one proton and
one electron), and ask what would happen to the charge if you took away the electron. The charge
would now be +1. Tell the students you can figure out the total charge of the atom by setting up a
subtraction problem: (# of protons) - (# electrons) = (total charge). Go though a few different
examples of neutral atoms and ions, and ask how many protons and electrons in each. For example:
• Oxygen: 8 protons and 8 electrons. Oxygen ion (-2 charge): 8 protons and 10 electrons.
• Lithium: 3 protons and 3 electrons. Lithium ion (+1 charge): 3 protons and 2 electrons.
 Next explain to the students that like charges repel, and opposite charges attract.

Next, explain how charged species (like ions) interact with uncharged species (like regular atoms):

In Figure 4, we see the interaction between a charged balloon (shown with net negative charge that has
been imparted to the balloon in an unshown step) and an uncharged wall. When the charged balloon is
brought close to the wall, the positive species in the wall are attracted to the negative balloon, causing
the positive species in the wall to align as shown in the lower figure. This alignment of positive species
in the previously uncharged wall is known as an induced dipole, and it results in regions of the wall
gaining a net charge (either positive or negative), although by conservation of charge it does not
involve the creation or destruction of electrons in the wall.
Now explain static electricity. See if anyone knows what it is, and explain that static electricity
is what gives us a shock when we rub our socks on the carpet and touch something metal (or anther
person), and what makes our hair stand up when we rub a balloon on our head (if time, also explain that
lightning involves a static buildup in the clouds, that then gets “discharged” to the ground). Static
electricity results from atoms giving up or accepting some of their electrons so they have a net charge.
Ask the students what these charged atoms are called (they are called ions). The “shock” occurs when
the electrons built up in our body from rubbing our socks on the floor flow out of our body and onto the
metal. At this point, the students may be curious as to how electrons move between atoms. For the
purposes of this static electricity lesson, tell the students that one way electrons move between atoms is
that they simply move between atoms that are in contact (that are touching) . For example, if we rub a
balloon against our hair (which is something we will be doing in experimental part of this lesson), we
transfer electrons between our hair and the balloon merely because our hair is touching the balloon.
Now, point out to the students that some materials have a stronger affinity for electrons than others, and
that these electron-affinitive materials strongly hold any electrons in their orbitals (are less likely to
lose these electrons than atoms with lesser electron affinity). Tell the students that materials that
strongly hold electrons are known as insulator, and materials that do not strongly hold electrons are
known as conductors. Example of insulators include: plastic, cloth, glass and dry air, and the most
common example of an electrical conductor are metals.
The students will now do an experiment with static electricity to illustrate these concepts.
Experiment 1 – Swinging Cereal
Supplies:
• Balloons
• Sewing thread
• Dry cheerios (honey nut work the best we've found)
What to do:
1. Divide into groups of 3-4 students
2. Give each group a few pieces of cereal (tell the students that they probably don’t want to eat the
cereal since it is likely pretty old), an approximately 12 inch piece of thread, and an uninflated
balloon. Have the group tie a single piece of the cereal to one end of the thread. Then, have the
group hold the thread so the cheerio dangles freely.
3. Have the groups blow up their balloons (they might need help with this, especially with tying
off the balloon) and make sure their blown up balloons are dry.
4. Have the groups put a static charge on their balloons by rubbing them on their shirt or hair.
5. Next have the groups slowly bring the charged part of the balloon (the side rubbed on their hair
or shirt) near the cereal but not too close, and have them record their observations. The cereal
should swing to touch the balloon and then jump away by itself. Now have the students bring
the balloon close again, and record their observations. The cereal should be repelled by the
balloon.
What is happening: Initially, the cereal (which is uncharged) is attracted to the balloon because of an
induced dipole (explained above). When the cereal touches the balloon, some of the electrons in the
charged balloon move to the cereal, so now they are both negatively charged. Because they have the
same charge, the cereal is repelled by the balloon. See if the students can explain this themselves
before helping them with the explanation.

If you have a sink in your room, you can try this next experiment, otherwise tell the students about it
and let them try it at home!

Experiment 2 – Deflection of Water

Supplies:
• Balloon
• Sink

What to do:
1. Turn on the sink so the water flows out in a small, steady stream (it is important that the stream
is small)
2. Rub the balloon on your shirt or hair to give it a static charge.
3. Bring the balloon close to the water, but make sure the water does not get on the balloon
because this will ruin the experiment. The stream of water should be deflected towards the
balloon!
What is happening: The charged balloon is attracting the neutral water by inducing a dipole in the way
the water molecules are oriented. This is very similar to the cheerio example!

Conclusion and Wrap-up

Review the concepts from the past few weeks (parts of an atom, modeling, static charge,
behavior of like and opposite charges), and answer any questions the students may have.

References: This lab was inspired by the site http://www.sciencemadesimple.com/static.html, which

was recommended to Science Bus by Hailey Foster.