ELECTROSCOPE Construction Guide

MATERIALS

1 Empty jar of coffee or sardines with lid

1 Plastic straw from funchum or any tetra pack juice
8” copper wire
Pliers
Aluminum foil (any form will do)
Scotch or masking tape
Glue stick

PROCEDURE:

1. Start by punching a hole in it large enough for the straw and copper wire to fit through.

2. Insert the straw into the hole and center it. Leave a couple inches of space from the
bottom of the jar. Use the hot glue to secure the straw in place.

3. Next, insert the copper wire into the straw.

4. Use the pliers to bend the tip of the copper wire into a hook to hold the aluminum foil
later.

5. Use the pliers to bend the remaining copper on top of the lid into a coil to provide more
surface area.

6. Next, cut a small slit in the aluminum foil and slide them onto the copper hook.

7. Attach the cover to the jar.

Plastic Cover
 ELECTROSTATICS

Theory:

Most modern applications of electricity involve moving electric charges or current electricity.
Historically, however, the first studies of electricity involved static charges, or electrostatics. In
this course we follow history, starting with electrostatics, and this experiment is an exercise in
electrostatics.

The simplest way to obtain an electric charge is to take almost any two materials and rub them
together. It is found that one of the materials becomes negatively charged and the other positively.
For example, if you rub a hard rubber rod with a woolen cloth, the rubber rod acquires a negative
charge and the wool an equal amount of positive charge. (Which charge we call negative is a matter
of convention, but with the agreed convention it is the rubber that becomes negative.)

We now know that all matter contains positive and negative charges. The positive charge is deep
inside each atom on the atomic nucleus, while the negative charge is on the electrons that orbit
outside the nucleus. In normal, neutral matter the amounts of positive and negative charge are
equal, and we are unaware of either. Given any two materials, it usually happens that one has a
greater attraction, or affinity, for electrons than the other; when the two are rubbed together, the
material with higher affinity captures a few electrons from the material with lower affinity. For
example, rubber has higher electron affinity than wool; when they are rubbed together the rubber
captures a few electrons from the wool; the rubber therefore acquires an excess of electrons and is
negatively charged, while the wool is left with a deficit of electrons and is therefore positively
charged.

OBJECTIVES:
 To compare the electron affinities of several materials.

MATERIALS:
 Electroscope
 Different materials to be tested

PROCEDURE:
1. Make sure that there is no charge in the electroscope by checking on the suspended
aluminum foil inside the jar.
2. Charge one of the test materials by rubbing it with your hand.
3. After rubbing it with your hand, put the charged material near the coiled copper wire.
4. Observe what happened to the suspended aluminum foil.
5. Note what happened to the foil. Measure the distance of the foil.
6. Repeat procedure number 2 for the other test materials.

DATA AND RESULTS

MATERIALS *DISTANCE (mm) ELECTRON NEGATIVITY

(High or Low)

*the higher the distance of the foil from each other the higher the electron negativity.
ANALYSIS/QUESTIONS
1. How you can increase the amount of charge of the test material?
2. What could be the reason why the foil spread when the charged material is placed near the
coiled tip of the copper wire?
3. What is the difference in charge when you rub the material press hard and longer time than
pressing it gently and shorter time.