Electrostatics

Electricity
 Comes from Greek word elektron which means “amber”
because it was noticed that when amber was rubbed with
cloth it attracts dust and leaves
 This attraction is now called Static Electricity
 An object becomes charged due to rubbing and it posses
a net electric charge
 Benjamin Franklin noticed two types of charge and
called them positive and negative
Fundamental Law of Charges
 Opposites attract
 Likes repel
 Any charged object attracts a neutral object
Law of Conservation of Charge
 Whenever a certain amount of charge is produced on one
body, an equal amount of opposite charge is produced on
another body
 Net amount of electric charge produced in any process is
zero
Atoms and Electron Charge
 Charging of a solid results from the transfer of electrons
from one material to another
 Negative charge results when an object acquires an excess of
electrons
 Positive when has deficit
Electrostatic Series
 gold hold e- tight
 sulfur
 brass
 copper
 rubber
 wax
 silk
 lead
 fur
 wool
 glass
 acetate lose e- easily
Examples
 When rub plastic or rubber object with fur electrons are
transferred from the fur to the plastic: plastic becomes - and
fur +
 What happens when glass is rubbed with silk?
Charged By Rubbing
 Objects charged by rubbing usually lose their charge quickly
 Charge may be neutralized by ions in the air
 Charge may “leak” off onto polar molecules like water in the
air
 Why is there more static electricity on dry days?
Insulators and Conductors
 Solids fall into two main categories as far as electric
properties
 Conductor – allows charge to flow
electrons not tightly held so can move freely through
the material
 Insulator – charge cannot flow
electrons tightly bound and cannot move
Semiconductor
 Intermediate between conductor and insulator
 Few electrons are free
 Silicon, germanium, carbon
Electroscope
 Device that detects charges present
Charging by Contact
 When a charged object touches a conductor, the charges
“flow” to the conductor and give it the same charge as the
initiating object
Charging by Induction
 Happens when charged object is brought neat but does not
touch a neutral object
 Only – charge can flow
 When charged object is brought near a conductor, the –
charge in the conductor will either be attracted or repelled
by the charged object
Grounding
 Induced charge can be kept by “grounding” the object
induced
 Ground is a wire running to the earth
 The earth acts as a big reservoir of charge either absorbing or
providing electrons
Sparking
 Highly charged conductors induce charges in nearby
objects
 Electrons are strongly attracted to induced opposite
charge even if a gap exists between them
 Spark is when electrons jump across the gap
 Sparking effect can be magnified by changing the shape
of the conductor to a sharp point – this concentrates
charge at a point