Static electricity: Experiments

What is electricity

Electricity is the effect caused by the presence or movement of charged particles .

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What is static electricity

What happens when you rub two different substances together?

• Atoms collide.
• Electrons may escape from one substance to the atoms of the other.

• One substance becomes positively charged.
• The other becomes negatively charged.

A substance that carries electricity in this way is charged, and since this electricity is stationary (it’s not flowing), it is called static electricity.

Experiments

EXPERIMENT 0:  SIMULATION

Learning goals:

• Describe and draw models for common static electricity concepts (transfer of charge, induction, attraction, repulsion, and grounding).

• Make predictions about force at a distance for various configurations of charge.

Balloons and Static Electricity‬ (colorado.edu)

EXPERIMENT 1:   JUMPING DOLLS

Materials:

• Piece of paper.
• Pencil and scissors.
• Balloon

Experimental procedure (step by step):

1. Create a chain of paper dolls by cutting multi-folded paper strips.
2. Inflate a balloon.
3. Run the balloon through your hair about 10 times. When the balloon moves through your hair, it picks up electrons — tiny particles with an electric charge.
4. Bring the balloon next to the paper dolls without touching them.
5. Understand how this works.

EXPERIMENT 2: BENDING WATER

Materials:

• Nylon (plastic) comb.

Experimental procedure (step by step):

1. Run a nylon (plastic) comb through your hair about 10 times. When the comb moves through your hair, it picks up electrons — tiny particles with an electric charge.
2. Turn on the faucet.
3. Only let a very thin stream of water flow.
4. Place the comb right next to the stream of water without touching it.
5. Understand how this works.
6. Experiment:
   • Bend water again, but change the variables, one at a time. See how they affect the result. Can you explain why?
     • Does the temperature of the water affect how much it bends?
     • Does a bigger object make the water bend more?
     • Does the material that the object is made of affect its ability to bend water?
     • How does the strength of the stream flow affect how much it bends?

EXPERIMENT 3: ELECTROSTATIC BUBBLES

Materials:

• A smooth surface (like a laminated table top)
• Straw
• Dish soap
• Balloon
• Your hair

Experimental procedure (step by step):

1. Inflate a balloon.
2. Run the balloon through your hair about 10 times. When the ballon moves through your hair, it picks up electrons — tiny particles with an electric charge.
3. Coat the smooth surface with the soapy water.
4. To blow a bubble, suck up some soapy water with the straw (NOT ALL THE WAY! Don’t drink it!) and then blow gently onto the smooth surface.
5. Bring the balloon next to the bubbles without touching them.
6. Understand how this works:
   • The soap bubble is electrically neutral (it has the same number of positive protons and negative electrons), but it also contains “impurities” that are ions, particles that are either charged positively or negatively, and that can move around.
   • Thus, when you bring a negatively charged object (charged plastic balloon) near the bubble, the negative electrons in the balloon attract the positively charged ions within the bubble–remember, opposite charges attract—and the bubble moves towards the balloon.
7. Experiment:
   • Create a small bubble inside a big one and bring the balloon next to the big bubble.
     • The smaller bubble inside the bigger bubble doesn’t move, because it is not attracted to the balloon. The bigger bubble isolates the smaller bubble from the electric charges outside.