Summary:

The purpose of these tutorials is to teach students about the nature of electricity through electrical charges. Through hands-on activities students will create electric charges on different objects and experiment with their electrical repulsion and attraction.

After this lesson, students will be able to:

• Understand the basic properties of electric charge
• Explain how electrons are transferred between two objects
• Demonstrate how two different objects are affected by static electricity

Recommended Grades 4-8th

Introduction:

Have you ever rubbed your feet on the carpet and then experienced the zap of electricity by something when you touch it? That zap is caused by static electricity, which is the build-up of an electrical charge on the surface of an object. The reason that it’s called static electricity is because the charges stay in one area for a time and don’t move to a different area.

Static electricity is caused by atoms which are made up of neutrons, protons, and electrons. In the instance of static electricity the electrons which spin outside the atom become unbalanced when two objects create friction and an electron moves from one object to another creating an imbalance which results as an electrical charge.

Image displaying atoms transferring electrons through friction.

Experiment:
Using the video demonstrations provided, test, analyze and document the results of your experiments with your partner.

Materials Needed

• Balloons
• Pieces of wool cloth or cotton cloth
• PVC pipe
• Empty soda can
• Scissors
• Tissue paper

Assessment:

For each experiment have students write down their observations for example: What object did they charge? Did the charged objects attract or repel other objects? Why do they think that happened?

After completing the experiments and observations have the students explore other ways of creating static electricity, for example removing their shoes and rubbing socks against the classroom carpet, or charging a balloon and placing near a classmates hair.

Vocabulary

• Atoms – the smallest particle of a chemical element that can exist
• Neutrons – a particle of about the same mass as a proton but without an electric charge
• Protons – a stable particle with a positive electric charge equal in size to that of an electron
• Electrons – a stable particle with a charge of negative electricity, found in all atoms and it acts as the primary carrier of electricity in solids
• Friction – this is the resistance that one surface or object encounters when moving over another
• Volt – a volt is the unit of electric potential difference, or the size of the force that sends electrons through a circuit
• Static Electricity – a build up of an electric charge on an object.

Facts about Static Electricity

A spark of static electricity can measure thousands of volts, but has very little current and only lasts for a short period of time.

Lightning is a powerful and dangerous example of static electricity.

As dangerous as lightning is, around 70% of people struck by lightning survive.