Static Electricity

Anida Nurafifah
 Lesson Objective

• Student should be able to recall and use

Coulomb’s law
• Student should be able to calculate the field
strength and potential due to a point charge
• Student should be able to recognize the
analogy between certain qualitative and
quantitative aspects of electric fields and
gravitational fields
Lightning
• What are the charges of protons, neutrons
and electrons?
• Why is an atom electrically neutral?
• What happens when you take away
electrons from a neutral atom?
 Structure of the atom

• The positive centre of

the atom is called the….
• nucleus.
• It contains two types of
particles….
• protons and neutrons.
• Protons are….
• positively charged,
• neutrons are…
• neutral so they have no
charge.
 Structure of the atom
• The negative electrons orbit
the positive nucleus rather
like the planets orbit the
Sun
Atoms are electrically neutral
• Normally atoms are electrically neutral
• This means they have equal numbers of positive and
negative charges…
• so they must have equal numbers of…
• protons and
• electrons.
• Neutrons are
• neutral - they have no charge…
• so the charges in a neutral atom are balanced
 Electrons can MOVE!

• Electrons can transfer from one atom to

another.
• The atom that loses an electron now has a …
• positive charge because it has more positive
charges than negative charges
• The atom that gained the electron is now…
• negative because it has …
• more negative charges than positive.
 Charging an object by friction
• When certain
materials such as
Perspex and cloth
are rubbed
together they can
become charged
• This is because
electrons transfer
from one to the
other
• One is left with a
positive charge and
the other gains a
negative charge
Similarly with ebonite and fur…
 Like and unlike charges

• Like charges … REPEL

• Unlike charges … ATTRACT
• What causes things to move from rest?
• What kind of forces are at work on the
balloon and on the pieces of paper?
 Static electricity
Static electricity is when charge “builds up” on an object
and doesn’t move, e.g. rubbing a rod:
Two different
rods will
attract each
other if they
have different
charge:-

Two rods
made of the
same material
will repel each
other due to
having the
same charge:-
101 things to do with a balloon…

• Like charges I think you’ve probably

• REPEL! got that by now!
101 things to do with a balloon…
• Rub a balloon on your
hair…
• electrons transfer
from balloon to hair,
making the hair…
• negative (extra Electrons transferred
electrons), and the
balloon… this way
• positive (fewer
electrons).
• then...the opposite
charges…
• attract, and your
hair…
• stands up on end!
 Bad hair day!?
• Why do the
individual hairs
separate out
from each other?
• Because….
• LIKE CHARGES…
• REPEL!!
• Not that again!
101 things to do with a balloon…

• Rub a balloon on your hair (or your

jumper)
• Stick it to the wall.
• How does this work?
 Balloon sticking to wall…

When the negative balloon

is brought up to the neutral
wall, the electrons in the
wall atoms are repelled and
retreat to the far side of
their atoms.
This leaves their
positive nuclei
closest to the
balloon and the Electrons
unlike charges retreating
attract.
Bending water and picking up paper

• The same thing happens in the paper atoms and

in the water atoms as happened in the wall
atoms…
• The electrons move in their orbits – either
attracted or repelled depending on the charge
on the balloon.
 Uses of static electricity

• Explain! ..and the advantages are…

 Atoms, atoms, atoms…
• The atoms in a solid are arranged in regular
rows, all packed tightly close together
 But in metals….

• As well as the electrons in the lattice

atoms, metals have extra FREE electrons
that are not involved in bonding
• When the metal is not connected to a
battery or other power supply these
free electrons move randomly about in
the metal at speeds of about 106 m/s
 Connect them up…and…

• … all the negative free electrons are attracted by

the positive terminal of the battery and repelled by
the negative terminal because…..
• Yes….
• Like charges repel and ….
• Unlike charges attract!
• Have we been here before?
 Free electrons….
• Spot the difference between a
conductor and an insulator….
Dangers of static electricity (i)

• Flammable gases are used to anaesthetize

patients, so sparks are especially dangerous in
operating theatres.
• There is also a more than usual amount of
oxygen present in operating theatres.
• Identify all the precautions taken in the
diagram above
Dangers of static electricity (ii)

• The movement of the fuel through the pipes as the aircraft is

refuelled can cause a charge build up.
• A spark from this charge could ignite the petrol vapour.
• An escape route for the charge has to be provided to prevent
any possibility of sparking.
• A bonding line is attached to allow the charge to flow away to
‘earth’.
• Tyres may also be made from a special conductive rubber.
Lightning conductors
 Coulomb’s Law

• Charles Coulomb
measured the magnitudes
of electric forces between
two small charged
spheres
• He found the force
depended on the charges
and the distance between
them
 Coulomb’s Law

• Consider two point

charges and placedq1
at distance
q2 apart. r
• The two charges exert
force on each other along
the line between them.
• The force is repulsion if
the two charges are the
same sign, the force is
attraction if the two
charges are the opposite
sign.
Coulomb’s Law – Gives the electric force
between two point charges.

q1q2
F k 2
r
k = Coulomb’s Constant = 9.0x109 Nm2/C2
q1 = charge on mass 1
q2 = charge on mass 2
r = the distance between the two charges

The electric force is much stronger than the

gravitational force.
 Electric Field Strength

E = Electric Field Strength V/m

k = Coulomb’s Constant = 9.0x109 Nm2/C2
Q = charge
r = the distance between the two charges
Example 1
Two charges are separated by a distance r and have a force
F on each other. qq
F k 1 2
2
r
F F
q1 q2
r

If r is doubled then F is : ¼ of F

If q1 is doubled then F is : 2F

If q1 and q2 are doubled and r is halved then F is : 16F

Example 2
Two 40 gram masses each with a charge of 3μC are
placed 50cm apart. Compare the gravitational force
between the two masses to the electric force between the
two masses. (Ignore the force of the earth on the two
masses)

3μC 3μC
40g 40g

50cm
 m1m2
Fg  G 2
r
(.04)(.04) 13
 6.67 10 11
2
 4.27 10 N
(0.5)

q1q2
FE  k 2
r
6 6
(3  10 )(3  10 )
 9.0 10 9
 0.324 N
(0.5) 2
The electric force is much greater than the
gravitational force
Electric Fields and Gravitational Fields
Thank u for your attention