S TATIC E LECTRICITY Maryam Hamouda 8E

E XAMPLES OF STATIC ELECTRICITY

S TICKING BALLOONS TO THE WALL If you rub a balloon on your hair and then put it on a wall, it will stick to the wall. That is because when you rub the balloon to your hair, this removes some of the electrons from your hair and gives the balloon a slight negative charge. The balloon will stick (if the weather is dry) since the negative charges in the balloon will re-orient the atoms of the wall, and a weak electrical force will hold the balloon in place on the wall.

H AIR STANDING ON END If you are wearing a wool shirt or jacket, and when taking it off it rubs with your hair. If your hair is dry then it will stand on end. That is because when the hair and the wool rub, some electrons are removed from the hair which leaves each hair positively charged. Now because like charges rebel, the hairs rebel from each other so they stand on end far away form the other hairs.

U SES OF STATIC ELECTRICITY

F INGER PRINTING : Finger printing is a manmade use of static electricity. Static electricity in this case helps you see invisible fingerprints on paper. By placing the paper near a charged wire, and then sparkling fine black powder on top of it, the finger print would show. That is because the powder sticks to the fingerprint not to the clean paper.

S PRAY P AINTING Static electricity is also used to help spray paint cars and bicycles. Cars and bicycles are painted using electrostatic paint spray. The nozzle of this machine is then charged to make all the paint droplets have the same charge. That means that the paint droplets will repel from each other and spread out in a large cloud to spray the product faster. That also means that less paint is needed because all the paint is being attracted to the same object even the back of it. that helps save a lot of paint and time and energy.

A N E LECTROSTATIC P RECIPITATOR This method is a very good method that helps not pollute the environment. Coal-burning power stations let out a lot of black smoke into the air every day. This smoke the pollutes the air can be collected by static electricity. Thin wires are strongly charged positively to about volts. They are stretched across the chimneys top. This causes the gas that is coming up the chimney to to be charged. When this happens the smoke atoms become positively charged and then repelled by the wires towards earthed metal plates where it then sticks. A mechanical hammer hits this pit every once in a while, and then it is used to make bricks.

W HAT IS THE PROBLEM WITH STATIC ELECTRICITY ? Sometimes when you touch a door handle, you get a small electric shock. That's static electricity. Although in most situations this is harmless, if you are in a building with oil, or explosive gases, this could cause a huge explosion. Another way static electricity can cause problems is when working with computer components such as motherboards or memory cards. A small amount of static is capable of damaging those sensitive components, which is why it's recommended you ground yourself and/or wear an anti-static wristband while working around computers.

B IBLIOGRAPHY : "Static Electricity- EnchantedLearning.com." Static Electricity- EnchantedLearning.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Jan "What Problems Does Static Electricity Cause?" WikiAnswers. Answers, n.d. Web. 12 Jan