Getting to Know: Static Electricity

Your teacher asks you to do a problem on the board. As you walk across the room, you feel
your shoes rubbing against the carpet. You reach to pick up the chalk from the metal tray but
you are in for a shock. Really! A tiny blue spark appears between your fingers and the metal.
You jump back in surprise—that hurt!

What just happened?

You experienced static electricity. This was probably not the

first time you felt this. Have you ever unloaded the clothes

dryer and found your socks clinging to your pants? Has your

hair ever stood on end when you took off your hat? When

was the last time you saw lightning flash across the sky? All

of these things are caused by static electricity.

Okay, but what is static electricity? Static electricity is the

Electricity is energy produced by the flow of electrons.
reason this comb can
Electrons are tiny particles that give objects a negative charge.
attract hair.
As electrons move from object to object, the object that

gains electrons gets a negative charge. The object that loses electrons gets a positive charge.

Positive and negative charges are also called electrical charges. An object that has an overall

positive or negative charge is said to be electrically charged.

There are forces that can change an object’s electrical charge. One such force is friction.

Friction is produced by rubbing two objects together.

When you walk across the floor, your shoes rub against the carpet. This creates friction. The
friction causes electrons to flow from the carpet to your body. Both your body and the carpet
become electrically charged.
Something that is static is not moving. The electrons in your body do not flow through wires
to another place. They stay in your body and so your body has static electricity.

Misconception 1: So to create static electricity, I need to rub two objects together?

This is not necessarily the case. Although friction is one cause of static electricity, it is not
the only cause. Static electricity builds up when the positive and negative particles are
not in balance. This imbalance can be created in many ways.

Concept: Static Electricity © Discovery Education. All rights reserved.

Getting to Know 1 Discovery Education is a subsidiary
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 If I had static electricity, why did it shock me when I touched
the metal ledge?
Touching the metal caused the electrons in your finger to move to the ledge. This movement
released the static charge that had built up in your body. The result is a small—yet shocking—
spark.

Then how does static electricity cause lightning?

Lightning is the release of a very large static charge. During

a storm, winds cause water molecules in clouds to move

back and forth. The movement of these molecules creates

friction. Friction causes static electricity to build up in the

clouds.

Sometimes, electrons jump from cloud to cloud, releasing

a very large static charge. The sky lights up, and we see a

flash of lightning. The nearby air becomes hot and expands.

The sudden expansion of air produces a sound we call

thunder.
Lightning is the release of a
static charge between clouds
Sometimes electrons jump from the cloud to the ground.
or between a cloud and the
This creates another flash of lightning.
ground.

What else can static electricity do?

In the picture on the right, the girl has rubbed balloons

against her hair. As a result, her hair is “sticking” to the

balloons. How is this related to static electricity?

The force of friction causes electrons to flow from the girl’s

hair to the balloon, giving the balloon a negative charge.

The girl’s hair loses electrons and gains a positive charge.

Objects with opposite charges attract each other. So, the

negatively charged balloon attracts the girl’s positively

charged hair.
Why does a negatively
What would happen if the girl held the negatively charged
charged balloon attract
balloon beside another negatively charged balloon? Objects
positively charged hair?
Static electricity!
that have like charges repel each other. Therefore, each

negatively charged balloon would “push” away the other

balloon.

Concept: Static Electricity © Discovery Education. All rights reserved.

Getting to Know 2 Discovery Education is a subsidiary
www.discoveryeducation.com of Discovery Communications, LLC.