Learn

If you’ve ever rubbed a balloon on your head and then watched your hair stand on end, then you’ve experienced static electricity. But what makes it happen? Well, everything that you see is made up of tiny particles called atoms.

And these atoms are made up of even smaller particles called protons, electrons and neutrons. Protons have a positive charge, electrons have a negative charge and neutrons are neutral and have no charge. Most of the time the atoms in things have the same number of electrons and neutrons which make them balanced and neutral. However, if you rub things together, the electrons can move and give some atoms extra electrons. At the same time, other atoms are losing electrons and now have more protons. This is static electricity. Try this experiment to see how it works:

• A hard plastic comb
• A 12 inch piece of thread
• Small pieces of O shaped cereal

1. Tie the thread onto the cereal and tape the other end of the thread to something where the cereal can hang without being close to anything
2. Wash the comb and dry it well
3. Charge your comb by running it through long dry hair, or by rubbing it on a wool sweater
4. Slowly bring the comb near the cereal and watch it swing to touch the comb. Hold the comb there until the cereal moves away by itself
5. Then try to move the comb near the cereal again and watch it move away

What happened:

When you combed your hair, electrons moved from your hair to the comb giving the comb a negative charge. The neutral cereal was attracted to it and eventually, the electrons moved into the cereal giving both the comb and cereal negative charges. Now that they are both a negative charge, the cereal moves away and looks for a positive charge.