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Understanding Static Electricity

Static electricity is caused by an imbalance of electric charges within or on the surface of an object that occurs when two materials come into contact and then separate. There are four main ways this charge separation can occur: contact-induced (triboelectric effect), pressure-induced, heat-induced, and charge-induced. Contact-induced charge separation, where electrons are transferred between materials during contact, is the most common cause of static electricity and can result in hair standing up or objects clinging due to static cling.

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Mohanie D Sudama
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96 views2 pages

Understanding Static Electricity

Static electricity is caused by an imbalance of electric charges within or on the surface of an object that occurs when two materials come into contact and then separate. There are four main ways this charge separation can occur: contact-induced (triboelectric effect), pressure-induced, heat-induced, and charge-induced. Contact-induced charge separation, where electrons are transferred between materials during contact, is the most common cause of static electricity and can result in hair standing up or objects clinging due to static cling.

Uploaded by

Mohanie D Sudama
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

An imbalance of electric charges (Positive and Negative charges) within or on the

surface of an object/material is known as static electricity. That proportion of


charges will stay there until it is moved away by means of electric currents etc.
Static electricity can be created by rubbing two surfaces or when two surfaces come
into contact with each other and separate. Static electricity can be seen, felt and
even heard

Great so now that you know what static electricity is it is time to talk about CAUSES
OF STATIC ELECTRICITY?
Atoms in materials are usually neutral as far as electricity is concerned, they usually
have the same amount of negative (Electrons), positive (Protons) and a neutral
charge (Neutrons). For static electricity to be created it requires the separation of
negative and positive charges. In order for this to happen, two materials must first
come into contact with each other, thus causing the electrons to move from one
material to the other. This leaves and excess amount of positive charges in one and
an equal amount of negative charges in the other, thus causing an imbalanced
amount of charges between the two materials.
In fact there are 4 ways that charges can be separated:
Contact-induced charge separation
Pressure-induced charge separation
Heat-induced charge separation
Charge-induced charge separation

Contact-induced charge separation


Electrons that are loosely bounded can be removed when in contact with other
materials, this makes one material more positively charged and is known as the
triboelectric effect. The triboelectric effect is the most common cause of static
electricity. Contact-induced charge separation also makes your hair stand up and
causes a static cling (tendency for light objects to stick (cling) to other objects
owing to static electricity).

Pressure-induced charge separation


Applied mechanical stress generates a separation of charge in certain types of
crystals and ceramics molecules.

Heat-induced charge separation


Heating generates a separation of charge in the atoms or molecules of certain
materials

Charge-induced charge separation


A charged object brought close to an electrically neutral object causes a separation
of charge within the neutral object.
Now that we know the causes of static electricity lets look at ways to prevent it:

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