7/31/2019 Uses for Static Electricity

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Uses for Static ElectricityAlthough static electricity can be a nuisance--like getting shock when you tough a doorknob orstatic cling on your clothes--it has a number of beneficial uses. The forces of attraction caused bystatic electricty are used in air pollution control, automobile painting, and xerography or copymachines.

Being curious, questions you may have are: How can static electricity stop smoke stack pollution? What happens to freshen the air? How does a Xerox machine work?

Pollution controlBy charging dirt particles in the air with a static charge, they can be made to be collected, thusacting as an effective air pollution control. They are often called electrostatic precipitators.SmokestacksFactories use static electricity to reduce pollution coming from their smokestacks. They give thesmoke an electric charge. When it passes by an electrode of the opposite charge, most of thesmoke particles cling to the electrode. This keeps the pollution from going out into the

atmosphere.Air freshenersSome people purchase what are called air ionizers to freshen and purify the air in their homes.They work on a similar principle as the smokestack pollution control. These devices stripelectrons from smoke molecules, dust particles, and pollen in the air, just as what happens increating static electricity.These charged dust and smoke particles are then attracted to and stick to a plate on the devicewith the opposite charge. After a while, much of the pollution is drawn from the air.Since charged particles will also stick to neutral surfaces, some of them can stick to the wall nearthe ionizer, making it very dirty and difficult to clean.Xerography

Your photocopier or Xerox machine uses static electricity to copy print to a page. This is donethrough the science of xerography.One version gives ink an electrical charge so that it will stick to the paper in the designated areas.Another version of a photocopier uses charges to stick the ink to a drum, which then transfers itto the paper.Painting carsSome automobile manufacturers use static electricity to help them paint the cars they make. Theway this works is first they prepare the car's surface and put it in a paint booth, next they give thepaint an electrical charge, and then they spray a fine mist of paint into the booth.The charged paint particles are attracted to the car and stick to the body, just like a chargedballoon sticks to a wall. Once the paint dries, it sticks much better to the car and is smoother

because it is evenly distributed.Static electricity is commonly used in xerography, air filters (particularly electrostatic precipitators) ,automotive paints, photocopiers, paint sprayers, theaters, flooring in operating theaters, powder testing,printers, static bonding and aircraft refueling. Electrostatic precipitation uses static electricity and an electrical charge to filter air pollution bycharging harmful particles so they are attracted to collection plates.In electronics and industry, static electricity is used in capacitors in a number of ways for variousapplications.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xerographyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_filterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrostatic_precipitatorhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spray_paint#Electro_static_spray_painthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spray_paint#Electro_static_spray_painthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrostatic_precipitatorhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_filterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xerography