Static Electricity

Aims

Pupils should gain an understanding of:

• The fact that an insulating material can be charged by friction;
• Attractive forces existing between positive and negative charges, and repulsive forces acting between like charges;
• The fact that atoms are made up of two parts: a positive and a negative part;
• One part of an atom separates from another when some materials are rubbed;
• The fact that objects with the same charge repel each other; objects with different charges attract each other;
• The fact that static electricity occurs naturally;
• Lightning is a spectacular example of an electrostatic discharge.