Make Static Electricity

Purpose

To find out how static electricity is produced. After this experiment you will be able to differentiate static electricity from current electricity and answer the question, “What kind of electricity is produced when you rub two materials of different kinds?”


Additional information

There are two kinds of electricity namely static and current electricity. Static electricity or electricity at rest is a kind of electricity produced when you rub and stroke two different materials especially non-metals. They attract light objects such as small bits of paper and cotton thread to them. It is a form of electricity that does not flow but stays fixed on a certain location. It is very different from electricity that flows in wires like the one used to operate our appliances at home. Rubbing materials causes electrons to move. This results in materials becoming positively or negatively charged. Objects having opposite charges attract while those with the same charges repel. In addition, static electricity is produced by friction and is only present temporarily.


Sponsored Links


Required materials

  • comb
  • small pieces of paper
  • dry woolen cloth
  • inflated balloon
  • sand

Estimated Experiment Time

Around 15 minutes.


Step-By-Step Procedure

  • 1. Bring your comb near small pieces of paper and observe what happens.
  • 2. Now rub your comb briskly with a dry woolen cloth.
  • 3. Bring the comb towards some tiny pieces of paper and write down your observation.
  • 4. Rub an inflated balloon with a woolen cloth.
  • 5. Put the balloon against the wall and observe what happens.
  • 6. Rub the balloon with the woolen cloth again.
  • 7. Hold the balloon over very dry fine sand.

Note

Make sure you perform the experiment in an enclosed area to prevent sand and paper from getting carried away by wind. Be careful not to play with the sand since it can get into your eyes.


Observation

What happened when you bring your comb near small pieces of paper? What happened when you rubbed your comb with the cloth and brought it near the pieces of paper? Compare your observation with the first step. What caused the balloon to stick on the wall? Do you think the same thing will happen without rubbing the balloon on the cloth first? What happens to the sand when you bring the balloon near it? What kind of electricity is produced?


Result

The pieces of paper did not react to the comb in the first step but after rubbing the comb with the cloth, the comb gained negative electrons so it becomes negatively charged and attracted the pieces of paper. The balloon stuck on the wall because it is negatively charged while the wall is positively charged. It will not do so if it is not rubbed with a woolen cloth. The same thing happened when in rubbing the balloon and holding it over fine sand. The balloon attracted the sand. This kind of electricity that stays fixed on a location is known as static electricity or electricity at rest.


Sponsored Links


Take a moment to visit our table of Periodic Elements page where you can get an in-depth view of all the elements, complete with the industry first side-by-side element comparisons!


Your email:
Your name:
Recipient email:
Recipient name:
Message:
 

Print this page   Bookmark this page  

Hide/View all projects Hide all projects Hide/View all projects

All Projects List

  • Accelerate Rusting
  • Acids And Bases
  • Additive Colors
  • Ant Microphotography
  • Apple Mummy
  • Balloon Rocket Car
  • Barney Banana
  • Bending Water
  • Bernoulli’s Principle
  • Blind Spot in Vision
  • Boiling Point of Water
  • Build an Electromagnet
  • Build an Inclinometer
  • Caffeine And Typing
  • Candle Race
  • Candy Molecules
  • Capillarity of Soils
  • Carbon in the Atmosphere
  • Checking vs. Savings
  • Chemical Metamorphosis
  • Clean Cleaners
  • Cleaning Oil Spills
  • Climbing Colors
  • Cloud Cover
  • CO2 & Photosynthesis
  • Collecting DNA
  • Colorful Celery
  • Coloring Matter in Food
  • Colors And Temperature
  • Composition of a Shell
  • Computer Passwords
  • Construct a Lung Model
  • Corrosiveness of Soda
  • Create a Heat Detector
  • Create Lightening
  • Cultivate Slime Molds
  • Cup of Lava
  • Dehydrated Potato
  • Desalinate Sea Water
  • Detergents and Plants
  • Dissolving in Liquids
  • Dissolving Solutes
  • Distillation of Water
  • Double Color Flower
  • Egg in a Bottle
  • Enzyme Activity
  • Eroding Away
  • Erosion Simulator
  • Evaportating Liquids
  • Expanding Soap
  • Exploding Ziploc
  • Extracting Starch
  • Fans And Body Temp
  • Fertilizer & Plants
  • Filtration of Water
  • Floating Ball Experiment
  • Floating Balloon
  • Fog Formation
  • Font and Memory
  • Food and Academics
  • Friction And Vibration
  • Fruit Battery Power
  • Full and Low Fat Foods
  • Galileo's Experiment
  • Gas To Liquid
  • Grape Juice & Cleaners
  • Gravity and Plants
  • Green Slime
  • Growing a Crystal
  • Growing Bread Mold
  • Growing Population
  • Haemoglobin Binding
  • Hard vs. Soft Water
  • Homemade Floam
  • Home-made Geodes
  • Home-Made Glue #1
  • Homemade Snowflakes
  • Home-made Stethoscope
  • Homemade Volcano
  • Homemade Windmill
  • Human Battery Power
  • Inertia of an Egg
  • Information and CD’s
  • Invisible Ink
  • Isolation of Bread Mold
  • Isolation of DNA
  • Jar Compass
  • Lemon Floaties
  • Levers And Force
  • Lift an Ice Cube
  • Light Colors and Plants
  • Long Lasting Bubbles
  • Magic Balloons
  • Magnified Light
  • Make a Compost Pile
  • Make a Fuse Model
  • Make a Parallel Circuit
  • Make An Elevator
  • Make Electric Circuits
  • Make Limestone
  • Make Objects Float
  • Make Static Electricity
  • Make your own sundial
  • Matchbox Guitar
  • Math and Gender
  • Mean, Median and Range
  • Measuring Air Pollution
  • Mentos Soda Volcano
  • Microbial Contaminants
  • Milky Plastic
  • Mini Greenhouse
  • Missing Reflection
  • Mixing With Water
  • Molls Experiment
  • Music and Plants
  • Musical Bottles
  • Nocturnal Plants
  • Ocean Life & Oil Spills
  • Ocean Temperature
  • Optical Mice
  • Oral Bacteria
  • Orange Water Volume
  • Organic vs. Inorganic
  • Osmosis
  • Oven Baked Ice Cream
  • Oxygen & Photosynthesis
  • Paper Bridge
  • Paper Marbling
  • Pascal’s Law
  • Play-Doh and Volume
  • Preserve Spider Webs
  • Pressure Volcano
  • Pulse Rates
  • Pythagorean Tuning
  • Refraction in Water
  • Rollercoasters & Loops
  • Rubber Bones
  • Rubber Heat Reaction
  • Rubbery Egg
  • Rust and Moisture
  • Search Engines
  • Secondary Colors
  • Seed Germination
  • Seed Germination II
  • Separate Salt And Pepper
  • Snappy Sounds
  • Soil Erosion
  • Soil vs. Hydroponics
  • Sound Waves
  • Spectrum through Water
  • Speed of Decomposition
  • Speed of Dissolving
  • Spore Prints
  • Star Observer
  • Static Electricity
  • Statistics and M&M’s
  • Stem-less Flowers
  • Super Strength Egg
  • Sweet Erosion
  • Temperature and CPUs
  • Thirsty Rocks
  • Tornado Demonstration
  • Translucent Egg
  • Transpiration in Plants
  • Typing and Speed
  • Vibrating Coin
  • Volcanic Gas
  • Water and Living Things
  • Water Displacement
  • Water Evaporation
  • Water pH
  • Your Planetary Age