Chapter 20:

Static Electricity

Section 1:

Electric Charge
page 548
 Learning Intensions

I am learning about
electrostatic charges
and their causes
 Objectives
 To identify the two types of charges.

 To define electrostatic electricity.

 To determine when the charges repel and attract.

 To differentiate between conductors and insulators.

 To determine the type of electric charge transfer.

 To calculate the number of charged transferred by using a

formula.
 Engagement
 Have you ever touched a
metal doorknob and gotten
a shock? Why?

To understand static electricity

let's recall the main component of matter.
 Recall: Answer the following questions based on the previous knowledge.

1) What is atom?
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2) What do atoms consist of?
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3) What does neutral atom mean?
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4) Is the atom in the adjacent figure neutral? Why?
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5) Which is easier to lose? Protons or electrons?
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 Atoms and its Subatomic Particles
1) What is atom?
• Atom is the main component of matter or building block of matter.
• Nucleus consists
of protons and
2) What do atoms consist of? neutrons
• Positive charge (protons)
• Electrons rotate
• Negative charge (electrons) around the
• Neutral charge (neutron) nucleus

3) What do we mean by atoms are neutral?

• Number of positive charge = Number of negative charge

4) Is the atom in the adjacent figure neutral? Why?

• Number of protons (Red = 3) = Number of electrons (Yellow = 3)
• => Atom is neutral.

5) Which is easier to lose? Protons or electrons?

• Electrons because it is in the outer shell and the attraction
between electrons and the nucleus is weak.
 Watch the video and answer the following questions

1) How are electric charges produced?

2) Is nature tending toward balance or

imbalance?

3) How is a zap or a spark created?

4) How are conductors different from

insulators?
 What is electrostatic?

• Definition: it’s the study of

electric charges that can be
collected and held in one place”.

 Electrostatics refers to stationary electric charges.

 Imbalance between positive and negative Charges

1) If the atoms lost electrons, what is the

net charge of the atom ?

• Number of protons becomes greater;

the atom becomes positively charged.

2) If the atoms gain electrons, what is the

net charge of the atom ?

• Number of electrons becomes greater;

the atom becomes negatively charged.
 Quick Check
1) Which is the best description of 2) An object becomes +vely charged
how a neutral object becomes +vely when it -------------.
charged? A. Loses electrons
A. +ve protons that exits in the second
B. Gains electrons.
object are transferred to the object
through contact. C. Loses protons.

B. +ve protons are created in the object D. Gains neutrons

through contact with the second object.
C. –ve electrons are created and then
transferred to a different object.
D. –ve electrons in the object are
transferred to a different object
 Types of Electric Charges

There are two types of electric charges:

1) Positive charge.

2) Negative charge.
 Hand on Activity: Generate Electric Charges by Friction (Rubbing)

Group (1) Group (2)

 Take the balloon and inflate it.  Using the simulation below, rub the
 Rub it with your hair many times. balloon with the cloth.

 Approach the balloon to your hair

 Approach the balloon near the cloth.
again. simulation link

 Write down your observation.

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 Explain.
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During rubbing charges are not created but, only Separated
• At the beginning, balloon, hair and cloth are neutral.
• Upon rubbing the balloon with cloth or hair, the objects became electrically charged.
• Cloth and hair lost electrons to the balloon.
• Cloth and hair became positively charged while, the balloon gained electrons and became negatively
charged.
• An attractive force between the two oppositely charged objects is observed.
 Investigation continued
 Instructions
 Rub two balloons with your cloth.
 Approach the two balloons near each other.

 Record your observation.

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 Explain.
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• At the beginning, the two balloons were neutral.
• Upon rubbing the balloons with a cloth, they became charged objects.
• Cloth became positively charged since it lost electrons while, the balloons gain electrons and become
negatively charged.
• A repulsive force between like charged objects (the two balloons) is observed.
 Interaction between electric  Like charges repel.
charges  Opposite charges attract.

 Electrostatic forces are attractive or repulsive forces between particles that are
caused by their electric charges.
Grade 11 Am. / physics Name: ---------------------------
Classwork Section: -------------------------

 Answer the following questions based on the figure.

1) What are the types of materials involved in rubbing?

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2) Are they charged or neutral at the beginning?
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3) What happens to the electrons after rubbing?
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4) Which object becomes positive, and which one becomes negative?

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.
5) What is the result of rubbing?
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.
6) Is the total charge conserved?
 Answers
 Answer the following questions based on the figure.

1) What are the types of materials involved in rubbing?

Both are insulators.

2) Are they charged or neutral at the beginning?

They are neutral.

3) What happens to the electrons after rubbing?

Some electrons are transferred from the glass rod to the silk
clothes due to rubbing.

4) Which object becomes positive, and which one becomes negative?

The glass rod becomes +vely charged, and the silk becomes –vely charged.

5) What is the result of rubbing?

After rubbing, the two objects became oppositely charged.

6) Is the total charge of the two objects conserved?

Yes, since the number of the electrons lost by the glass rod equals to the number of electrons gained by the silk cloth.
Þ The total number of +ve and –ve charges before and after rubbing is the same.
Grade 11 Am. / physics Name: ---------------------------
Simulation
Homework Section: -------------------------

 Consider if you are wearing your rubber shoes and walking on a

wool rug at home.

1) What is the charge of the shoe and the rug before rubbing? Explain.

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2) What is the charge of the rubber shoe after rubbing?

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-

3) What is the charge of the rug after rubbing?

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-

4) Should the total amount of charges before and after rubbing be the same
or different? Explain.
Answers Simulation 1) What is the charge of the shoe and the rug
before rubbing? Explain.
Both are neutral, since the number of +ve charges equals
to the number of –ve charges.

2) What is the charge of the rubber shoe after

rubbing?
Negative charge, since it gained electrons from the rug.

3) What is the charge of the rug after rubbing?

Positive charge, since it lost electrons to the rubber shoe.

4) Is the total amount of charges before and after

rubbing the same or different? Explain
It is the same, since the total number of +ve and –ve
charges before rubbing equals to the total number of
+ve and –ve charges after rubbing.
 Electric Charge is Conserved
 The total electric charge in an isolated system never changes.
• Symbol of electric charge is (Q or q).
• The SI unit of electric charge is coulomb (C).

 Example: What is the charge of the red ball after interaction?

Total charges before = Total charges after

q red = +2C
 Quick Check
• Example: What is the charge of the rod after interaction?

Total charges before = Total charges after

q rod = +2C
 Charge Is Quantized
 The object charge is the integral multiple of its elementary charge.
• Elementary charge is the charge of a single electron or proton.
• The magnitude of the elementary charge is 1.60×10−19 C.
• We can find the charge of any object using the following equation:

Q = Ne
• Q is the quantity of charge in Coulomb.
• N is number of electrons lost or gained

• e is the elementary charge: e= 1.6x10 -19

C
Example
1) How many electrons are lost if the charge of the object is 10 C?

Q=Ne

10 = N x1.6x10-19

N = 6.25x1019
Example
2) Identify which of the following charges is incorrect.
a) q = 6.4 x 10-17 C.
b) q = 3.2 x 10-20 C.
• To check if it’s correct or not, we find the number of electrons transferred, if the result is an integer, it
would be correct. (Since the charge is quantized)

a) N = q/e = 6.4 x10-17/1.6x10-19 = 400. => This is a correct value for the charge.

b) N = q/e = 3.2 x10-20/1.6x10-19 = 0.2 => This is an incorrect value for the charge.

25
 Example
3) The rubber shoe wrapped a wool rug, if the wool lost 1020 electron. Find
the charge Q wool rug and Q rubber shoe

Q = Ne
Q = 1020x1.6x10-19
Q = 16 C
Qwool rug = +16 C (Because it lost electrons)
Qrubber shoe = - 16 C (Because it gained electrons)
 Conductors And Insulators
 Conductors are materials which allow
the charge to pass through them.
 Example: Copper, Silver, Gold, Iron
(Metals), graphite and plasma.
 Metals are good conductors because they
consist of many free electrons.
 Insulators are materials which do not
allow the charge to pass through them.
 Example: Plastic, glass, Rubber, cloth,
Cotton, Wood, Dry Air.

Question:
Why most electric wires are coated with rubber ?
 Is Air a Conductor or Insulator ? If you want to know more about
plasma …. you can watch the video.
Research
• Air is an insulator
 Can air be a conductor?
• Air can be considered as a conductor under certain
conditions.

Example
Lightning bolt (lightning)
The negative charges at the bottoms
of thunderclouds can cause the
separation of charges on earth The
attraction forces can ionize the wet
air creates plasma with conductive
properties like that of metals.
 Section 1 Electric Charge: Review
Page 552
Exercise 1
In the investigations with tape, how could you
find out which strip of tape, B or T, is positively
charged?
• Bring a positively charged rod near the two
strips of tape. The one that is repelled by the
rod is positive.

Exercise 2
Charged Objects After you rub a comb on a wool sweater, you can use the
comb to pick up small pieces of paper. Why does the comb lose this ability
after a few minutes?
• The comb loses its charge to its surroundings and becomes neutral once again
Section Review​
Page 552 ​

6. The glass rod attracts electrons off the metal

rod, so the metal becomes positively charged.
The charge is distributed uniformly along the
metal rod.
7. the copper is a conductor; it remains
neutral as long as it is in contact with your
hand.
 Quick Check
• What will happen if you rub two identical plastic rulers with a woolen
cloth and bring them together?

A. The rulers will attract each other.

B. The rulers will repel each other.
C. The rulers will neither attract nor repel.
D. The rulers will partially attract and partially repel.
 Quick Check
• A negative charge is generated in a rubber rod. Two materials, A and B, are
brought near the rubber rod, material A is attracted to the rod, and material B
is repelled. What can you say about the charges on the two materials?

A. A is positively charged, while B is negatively charged.

B. Both A and B are negatively charged.
C. Both A and B are positively charged.
D. B is positively charged, while A is negatively charged.