Static Electricity 2: Introducing Static Electricity

This lesson is the second of a four-part series on static electricity. These lessons are meant to help students understand that static electricity is a phenomenon that involves positive and negative charges.
An understanding of static electricity must begin with the concept that all matter is composed of atoms, and all atoms are composed of subatomic particles among which are the charged particles known as electrons and protons. Protons carry a positive charge (+), and electrons carry a negative charge (-). The number of electrons in an atom—ranging from one up to about 100—matches the number of charged particles, or protons, in the nucleus, and determines how the atom will link to other atoms to form molecules. Electrically neutral particles (neutrons) in the nucleus add to its mass but do not affect the number of electrons and so have almost no effect on the atom's links to other atoms (its chemical behavior).
To further understanding about static electricity, you should help your students to make connections between their day-to-day experiences with static electricity—such as lightning, receiving shocks after shuffling across a carpet, taking clothes that cling to each other out of the dryer, combing their hair in the wintertime—with the static activities conducted in the classroom. Ask them to try to describe and explain their everyday experiences with static in the terms they are learning: repel, attract, static charge, electron transfer. It is important that students grasp the concept that oppositely charged objects attract each other and like charged objects repel each other. It is less important that they are able to recall which materials tend to acquire negative or positive charges.
When two different materials come into close contact, for example, felt rubbing against a balloon or two air masses in a storm cloud, electrons may be transferred from one material to the other. When this happens, one material ends up with an excess of electrons and becomes negatively charged, while the other ends up with a deficiency of electrons and becomes positively charged. This accumulation of imbalanced charges on objects results in the phenomena we commonly refer to as static electricity.
When students first begin to understand atoms, they cannot confidently make the distinction between atoms and molecules. Students often get the idea that atoms somehow just fill matter up rather than the correct idea that the atoms are the matter. Middle-school students also have trouble with the idea that atoms are in continual motion. Coming to terms with these concepts is necessary for students to make sense of atomic theory and its explanatory power.

Standards & Objectives

Essential and guiding questions: 

Begin by discussing the following questions:

  • Have you ever been shocked after walking on a carpet or putting on a sweater? Combing your hair? Getting out of a car with cloth seats? Can you explain what caused the shock?
  • Describe your experiences playing with magnets. Have you noticed that sometimes two magnets will repel each other? What causes them to repel?
  • Why do your clothes stick together when they come out of the dryer?
  • Why do you sometimes get a shock on a cold day when you touch metal?
  • What other experiences have you had with static electricity?

Lesson Variations

Blooms taxonomy level: 
Applying
Extension suggestions: 

Follow this lesson with the next two lessons in the Static Electricity series:

  • Static Electricity 3: More about Static Electricity
  • Static Electricity 4: Static Electricity and Lightning

Helpful Hints

What You Need:

  • Introducing Static Electricity
  • Student Activity Sheet
  • Stuck-Up Balloon/Dancing Balloon
  • Student Activity Sheet

Materials:

  • Stuck-Up Balloon Activity
  • balloon
  • piece of fur or wool
  • a blank space on a nearby wall

Dancing Balloon Activity:

  • 2 balloons
  • 2 pieces of thread or lightweight string about 2 feet long (exact length is not critical)
  • wool as in previous activity

References

Contributors: