Static Electricity

Jennifer Banday
Electric Charge

 All matter is made up of atoms

 Atoms contain
1. Protons (+)
2. Neutrons (0)
3. Electrons (-)
Law of Electric Charges

 The law of electric charges states

that like charges repel, and
opposite charges attract.

 Protons are positively charged and

electrons are negatively charged,
so they are attracted to each other.

 Without this attraction, electrons

would not be held in atoms.
Law of Electric Charges
Charged Objects

 Atoms do not have a charge

because the number of electrons
and protons cancel each other out.
Ex.
3 protons (+) & 3 electrons (-) = 0
Charged Objects
How do objects get charged?
 They either gain or lose electrons.

 Why not protons?

Ex.
3 protons (+) & 5 electrons (-) =

7 protons (+) & 2 electrons (-) =

  is an imbalance
of electric
charges within or on
Static Electricity the surface of a
material.
 When something is
static, it is not
moving.
 The charges of static
electricity do not
move away from the
object that they are
in. So, the object
keeps its charge.

 Ex. Clothes taken out

of a dryer
 Electric Discharge
 The loss of static electricity as charges
move off an object is called electric
discharge.
Sometimes,
electric
Sometimes, discharge
electric happens
discharge quickly.
happens
slowly. Ex. wearing
rubber-soled
Ex: static on shoes on
clothes carpet,
lightning
How Lightning Forms
 Lightning
 Lightning usually strikes the highest point in a
charged area because that point provides the
shortest path for the charges to reach the ground.

 Anything that sticks up or out in an area can

provide a path for lightning.

 A lightning rod is a pointed rod connected to the

ground by a wire.

 Objects, such as a lightning rod, that are joined to Earth by a

conductor, such as a wire, are “grounded.” Any object that is
grounded provides a path for electric charges to move to Earth.

 Because Earth is so large, it can give up or absorb charges without

being damaged.

 When lightning strikes a lightning rod, the electric charges are carried
safely to Earth through the rod’s wire. By directing the charge to
Earth, the rods prevent lightning from damaging buildings.
 How Can You Charge Objects?

 There are 3 ways objects can be charged:

1. Friction
2. Conduction
3. Induction

**In each of these, only the electrons move. The

protons stay in the nucleus**
Friction
 Charging by friction occurs when
electrons are “wiped” from one object
onto another.

Ex.
If you use a cloth to rub a plastic ruler,
electrons move from the cloth to the ruler.
The ruler gains electrons and the cloth
loses electrons.
 Conduction

 Charging by conduction happens when

electrons move from one object to another
through direct contact (touching).

Ex. Suppose you touch an uncharged piece of

metal with a positively charged glass rod.
Electrons from the metal will move to the
glass rod. The metal loses electrons and
becomes positively charged.
 Induction
 Charging by induction happens when charges in
an uncharged object are rearranged without
direct contact with a charged object.

Ex.

If you charge up a balloon through friction

and place the balloon near pieces of paper,
the charges of the paper will be rearranged
and the paper will be attracted to the balloon.
 Conservation of Charge
 When you charge something by any
method, no charges are created or
destroyed.
 The numbers of electrons and protons
stay the same. Electrons simply move
from one atom to another, which makes
areas that have different charges.
 Coulomb's Law

When you have two charged

particles, an electric
force is created. If you have
larger charges, the forces will
be larger. If you use those
two ideas, and add the fact
that charges can attract and
repel each other you will
understand Coulomb's Law.
Cuolomb’s Formula: F=kq1q2/r2

 "F" is the resulting force between

the two charges. The distance
between the two charges is "r." The
"r" actually stands for "radius of
separation" but you just need to
know it is a distance. The "q1" and
"q2" are values for the amount of
charge in each of the particles.
 Scientists use Coulombs as units to
measure charge. The constant of
the equation is "k." As you learn
more physics, you will see that this
formula is very similar to a formula
from Newton's work with gravity.