After rubbing a balloon against a cloth, will you stick it on the wall ? Do you know how it happens ? It's static electricity. Static electricity is all around us in our day to life. In this article, let us see what is static electricity.
All objects are made by an atom. An atom consists of electrons, protons, and neutrons. Protons are positive charges. Electrons are negative charges. Neutrons are neutral. It doesn't carry any charges. Most of the objects try to be neutral which means the numbers of positive charges and negative charges are equal. An opposite charge attracts and the same charges repel.
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| Styrofoam peanuts clinging to a cat's fur due to static electricity. This effect is also the cause of static cling in clothes | Image by Original image: Sean McGrath from Saint John, NB, CanadaDerived image: Black Rainbow 999, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons |
By rubbing off any objects with other objects, charges transfer from one object to another object and it creates an imbalance between the positive and negative charges. This results in static electricity.
Static electricity creates by the imbalance made between the positive and negative charges. These charges stay on the surface of the objects so it is called static electricity. These charges stay on the surface of the objects until they discharge through a circuit.
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| Static electricity is a major hazard when refueling an aircraft | Image by English: Taken by the uploader, w:es:Usuario:BarcexEspañol: Tomada por w:es:Usuario:Barcex, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons |
Example 1: When you rub a balloon against the cloth, the negative charges in the cloth jumps into the balloon. The wall is positively charged. When both come in contact the positive and negative charges are attracted and the balloon sticks to the wall. This is because of static electricity.
Example 2: When you rub your shoe on the carpet, your body collects extra negative charges. These negative charges stay on your body until you touch anybody. When you touch anybody, current passes through your body and you get a little shock due to the static electricity.
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