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Static
electricity
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188 Static electricity
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Attracting Key facts
and repelling ✓ Some objects can become charged with static
electricity when rubbed.
Have you ever noticed a sweater crackling ✓ Objects can be given a positive or negative charge.
when you pull it over your head or your hair ✓ Charged objects exert forces on each other: similar
charges repel and opposite charges attract.
standing on end after you brush it? These
effects are caused by static electricity.
Static charges can cause objects to attract
or repel each other without touching.
Static cling
Static electricity builds up most easily on insulating
materials such as plastic and rubber. The effects are
easiest to see on a dry day, when there is little moisture
in the air.
Plastic objects can become
charged with static electricity
when rubbed. For example, a
comb can become charged when
it moves through a person’s hair.
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Plastic wrap becomes charged
when it unrolls. The static charge
helps it cling to items of food or
to itself.
Opposites attract The glass rod and the side
of the water stream near it
Static charges can be positive or have opposite charges and
negative. If two objects have opposite attract each other.
charges, they attract each other. Some
objects become charged with static
electricity when they are rubbed. For
example, rubbing a glass rod gives it a
charge that can attract water from a tap.
The charge is caused by electrons (which
are negatively charged) collecting on the
glass from the material used to rub it.
The charged rod induces
a charge in the water.
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Static electricity 189
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Similar charges repel
Objects with the same static charge repel each other. You can Van de Graaff generator
see this demonstrated with a Van de Graaff generator—a device
that creates a positive charge on a metal dome. Anyone that
touches the dome while insulated from the ground becomes A Van de Graaff generator contains a
moving belt made of an insulating material,
positively charged, too, which makes their hair stand on end.
such as rubber, that picks up a static
charge as it moves around two nylon
rollers. The charge is transferred via a small
brush to an aluminum dome at the top.
Hairs stand on end
because they all
become positively
charged, which makes Brush
them repel each other.
Aluminum dome
Rubber belt
Nylon roller
Motor
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190 Static electricity
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Attraction by Key facts
induction ✓ Electrons can be transferred between
some objects through rubbing.
✓ Gaining electrons causes an object
Rubbing a balloon on a wool sweater causes a build-up
to become negatively charged, and
of charge on the balloon. If you hold the balloon near a
losing electrons causes it to become
wall, it sticks to the wall. This happens because a charged positively charged.
object can induce an opposite charge in nearby objects.
✓ A charged object can induce a charge
in another object, causing the two
Sticky balloon to attract.
Most objects contain equal amounts of positive and negative
charge, resulting in no overall charge. However, when some
objects are rubbed, electrons can break away from atoms and
transfer from one object to another, giving both objects a charge.
When a charged object is held close to something else, it can
induce a charge in it, making them attract.
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Rubbing a balloon on a sweater causes a build-up of electrons on the When the balloon is near the wall, the negative charge on the balloon
balloon, giving it a negative charge. repels electrons in the wall, making the wall’s surface near the
balloon positive. The two opposite charges attract and the balloon
sticks to the wall.
Where static charge comes from
Electrons have a
An atom normally contains equal numbers of negative charge.
protons (with a positive charge) in its nucleus and
electrons (with a negative charge) surrounding the
nucleus, making it electrically neutral. Rubbing
some materials can transfer electrons from one
object to another, causing a build-up of negative
charge on one object and leaving the other object
Protons have a
with an overall positive charge. positive charge.
Atom
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Static electricity 191
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Using static electricity Key facts
Static electricity is not as useful as current electricity, but ✓ Electrostatic paint
some devices make use of it. For example, photocopiers, sprayers charge droplets
inkjet printers, and paint sprayers use static charges to of paint, causing them to
guide a spray of chemicals. repel each other and
spread out evenly.
✓ Photocopiers and
Electrostatic paint sprayers inkjet printers guide
Car manufacturers use electrostatic sprayers to give cars an even toner or ink to the right
coat of paint. The sprayer charges the mist of fine paint droplets, place on paper using
causing them to repel each other and spread widely and evenly. electrostatic attraction.
An opposite charge on the part being painted attracts the paint
so that it coats the whole surface.
The object is grounded or
has an opposite charge,
which attracts paint into
Spray droplets leaving the every nook and cranny.
sprayer all get the same charge.
Target
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The droplets repel each
other and form a fine mist.
A nozzle shoots out
Inkjet printers tiny droplets of ink.
The negatively
charged ink drops
are attracted to
A charging electrode the positively
As a sheet of paper rolls gives the droplets a charged plate.
through an inkjet printer, a negative charge.
printhead moves back and
forth along a rail, firing a
The charges on two
stream of tiny colored ink metal deflection
droplets at the paper. The plates are adjusted
ink droplets are given a by the computer
charge of static electricity to steer the ink.
and steered to the correct
place on the paper using
charged plates. Droplets build
up on the paper.
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192 Static electricity
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Dangers of Key facts
static electricity ✓ Lightning and sparks are caused by the sudden
discharge of static electricity.
✓ Sparks can burn people and start fires.
Static electricity can sometimes be
dangerous. If a large static charge builds ✓ A build-up of static charge when vehicles are
being refueled can be dangerous.
up, it may cause sparks when it is released.
These sparks can burn people or start fires.
Lightning Most lightning storms are
Lightning is caused by a build-up of static electricity inside a caused by a type of cloud
thundercloud as water droplets and ice crystals rush past each called cumulonimbus,
other. It can be deadly if it strikes a person directly and can cause which typically has a
towering shape and
fires if it strikes buildings. Lightning can strike from cloud to cloud
a spreading top.
or from cloud to ground. The diagram below shows how a
cloud-to-ground strike occurs.
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Leader
3. The leader meets a
channel of positive ions
growing from the ground
2. Air normally acts as an insulator, but and the two channels fuse,
the growing electric field between the forming a charged path
cloud and ground causes air molecules through which electricity
1. Strong winds inside a storm cloud cause to ionize (split into charged particles). can flow—a bolt of lightning.
ice crystals and droplets of water to tumble A channel of ionized air called a
around, creating static charges. A negative leader reaches down from the base
charge builds up at the bottom of the cloud, of the cloud.
inducing a positive charge in the ground.
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Static electricity 193
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Energy release
A bolt of lightning is a giant spark only a few centimeters wide
but kilometers in length. The massive flow of electrical energy
superheats the air to around 30 000°C, causing it to radiate
brilliant light. The sudden release of heat makes the air expand
explosively, producing the boom of thunder.
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Grounding aircraft
A build-up of static electricity in fuel can be extremely
dangerous—a spark could trigger an explosion. While
a plane’s fuel tanks are being refilled, wires are used to Fuel hose
connect the plane to the filling truck. The wires prevent a
charge from building up between the two vehicles as a result Fuel truck A bonding cable
of friction from the rapid movement of large volumes of fuel. allows charge to flow
away harmlessly.
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194 Static electricity
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Electric fields Key facts
All charged objects are surrounded by an electric ✓ A charged object is surrounded by an
field in which other charged objects experience a electric field in which other charged
force. Attraction, repulsion, sparking, and other objects experience a force.
static effects are caused by electric fields. ✓ An object’s electric field is strongest
nearby and gets weaker with distance.
✓ Attraction, repulsion, and sparking
Electric field diagrams
are caused by electric fields.
As electric fields are invisible, we use diagrams with lines and
arrows to represent them. The arrows always show the effect ✓ The strength and direction of electric
the field would have on a positive charge placed within it. The fields can be shown in diagrams
three examples below show the fields around charges at a using arrows.
single point. The arrows show that a positive charge repels
other positive charges, but a negative charge attracts positive
charges. The density of the lines indicates how strong
the field (and therefore the force) is.
Arrows show the Arrows always point away
direction of the force from a positive charge and
on positive charges. toward a negative charge. Lines are closest
where the force
is strongest.
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Field around a Field around a Field around a strong
positive charge negative charge negative charge
Parallel plates
A pair of parallel plates with opposite charges
produces a uniform electric field—the field
strength is the same everywhere between the
plates (except near both ends). In this photo,
grains of semolina suspended in castor oil
reveal the uniform electric field lines between
two charged plates.
Charged plate Grains of semolina Charged plate
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