Physical Science Exam Notes

Topic 1 - Static Electricity

Electrostatic charging.
 Movement of electrons into or out of non conducting material

 Electrons will move when the object is:

1. Rubbed (friction)
2. When a charged object is moved brought near another which
isn’t charged (polarization)
3. When charged object transfers its charges to one that is not
charged (induction)

Charging by friction (rubbing)

When an object is rubbed, electrons will either:
1. Move into the object – negative charging
 Gains more negative charges (negatively charged)
2. Move out of the object – positive charging

Eg. The piece of cloth that was used to rub the object loses its electrons
to the object. Cloth becomes positively charged
You can tell an object is charged when:
1. Object 1 is attracted to object 2
2. Object 1 is repelled by object 2
NB:
Oppositely charged objects attract.
Like charges repel.