Unit D – Electricity

1.1 – STATIC ELECTRICITY

Review of The Atom

• Protons have a positive charge

• Electrons have a negative charge
• Neutrons have no charge

• Atoms may gain or lose electrons and become ionized

• Charged particles can either attract or repel each other
 Electrical Charge
• most objects have an equal amount of positive and negative
charge so they are neutral overall
• when there are more protons than electrons, the object has a
positive static charge

• Note: Static means

“not moving”
• This type of charge
does not flow like a
current
• when there are more electrons than protons, the object has
a negative static charge
• bringing a charged object near a neutral object may cause
charge separation in the neutral object
Loss or Gain of Electrons
• Objects can gain or lose electrons through friction (rubbing)
• One object passes their electrons to the other object

• How do we know which object loses their electrons and which

object gains the electrons?
Electron Affinity
• Electron affinity – tendency to
hold onto electrons
• Different substances have
different abilities to hold
onto their electrons
• Shown on the triboelectric
series (to the right and in
textbook pg. 208)
Triboelectric series
• Materials higher on the list
lose electrons easier
• If you rub together two
materials on the list, the one
higher up loses electrons to
become positively charged.
The one lower on the list gains
electrons to become
negatively charged.
Example:

• If you rub cat fur and

plastic wrap together, cat
hair passes its electrons
to the plastic wrap.
Plastic wrap becomes
negatively charged and
the cat fur becomes
positively charged.
• opposite charges attract each other
• like charges repel each other

slide 6 of 8
Electrical Discharge
• Build up of charge on one object may cause a transfer of
charge to another object
• The resulting spark is the electrical discharge
• Eg. “shock” from touching a doorknob, Van de Graaf generator,
Tesla coil
Watch this video!

Inventions: The Tesla Coil

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ty1Fk0JZfQk
• a Van de Graaf generator uses friction from a belt being rubbed to
build up a static charge