EXAMPLES AND USES OF STATIC ELECTRICITYHabiba Sallam

HOW DOES STATIC ELECTRICITY WORK?

Static electricity is the build of electrical charges on the surface of a material. It is usually created when two objects are rubbed against each other or pulled away. That causes positive charges to gather on one material, and the negative charges on the other. Static Electricity can result in sparks, shocks or materials clinging together.

USING STATIC ELECTRICITY TO CONTROL POLLUTIONFactories use static electricity to reduce the pollution by giving the smoke an electrical charge. Therefore when it passes through electrodes (conductors through which electricity enters or leaves an object) of the opposite charge most of the particles hold onto them. This decreases the pollution going into the air.

STATIC ELECTRICITY IN PHOTO COPY MACHINESPhotocopy machines use static to attract ink and apply it where it needs to be and not where the paper is supposed to be white. This process is called xerography.

STATIC ELECTRICITY AND LIGHTING

Lighting is a huge form of static electricity. When particles from a cloud rub together they create static electricity. Lighting occurs when electrons from a cloud are attracted to protons of the ground or in another cloud.

WHY DOES YOUR HAIR STICK UP WHEN YOU TAKE OFF YOUR HAT?

When you take off your hat, you move electrons from your hair to the hat. Objects with the same charge drive back each other, and each of the hairs has the same positive

charge. Therefore, the hairs try to move as far away from each other as possible, and the farthest they can go is to

stand up away from the other hairs.

ZAP! While you walk across a carpet, electrons are transferred from the rug onto your body. You then have extra electrons and a negative static charge. If you touch a doorknob or any other metal conductors you feel a static shock. This happens because the doorknob is a conductor so the electrons jump off your body on to the doorknob and you feel the electric shock.

Static electricity is usually more noticeable in the winter or when the air is very dry. Because during the summer, air is more humid, and the water in the air helps the electrons move off you more quickly therefore you can not build up as big a static charge.

BENDING WATER WITH STATIC ELECTRICITY

Adjust the faucet to a slow running stream of water. Run a nylon comb through your clean hair and slowly bring the teeth of the comb to the stream. The water should bend.

This happens because when you rub your hair with the comb, you hair and the comb become charged. The comb and your hair have opposite charges since the single hairs have the same charge. When the comb attracts the stream of water the stream bends towards the comb since the molecules in the stream can be moved easily.

STATIC ELECTRICITY CAN DAMAGE ELECTRONICSJust by walking across a carpet, you can produce up to 12,000 volts of static electricity voltage. Although static voltage isn’t very dangerous or harmful to man, computers become greatly defenseless to static electricity as more and more circuitry is built into them. It is possible for static electricity to damage a hard drive.

STATIC ELECTRICITY CAUSES FIRES! Although it is very rare, there is a danger that static electricity might be able to ignite the gasoline vapors during refueling at a gas station. Static electricity can be generated by the friction of the gasoline being pumped into a vehicle. If static charges are allowed to discharge through the areas where there is petrol vapor, a fire can occur.

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