Static Electricity
Static electricity is electricity at rest, which is an accumulation of electric charge. This source of energy is the opposite of moving electric charge, known as electric current. It is part of the study of phenomena resulting from electric charge, called electrostatics. Electrostatics is actually one of the foundations of knowledge about electricity. Static electricity is clearly the oldest known form of electricity. The earliest understandings of static electricity date back to experimenting by the Greeks in 600 BC. In fact, the word electricity comes from the Greek word electron, meaning Amber. By the year 1600, many opinions had already been formed about electrostatics, which were later incorporated in the electrostatic force law. One idea was that there are two types of electricity, which were later named positive and negative by Benjamin Franklin. Another idea was that electric samples of the same kind repel each other, and those of different kinds attract each other. This later was named the law of electrical charges, and is essential to the understanding of electricity. A third idea was that if the distance between electric charges is increased, the force of attraction or repulsion decreases. All matte
r is made up of very tiny particles called atoms. Atoms are made up of even smaller substances called subatomic particles. Scientific studies have found that some of these subatomic particles are charged with electricity. The electric charges are made up of two kinds - positive and negative. The positively charged particles are called protons, and the particles with negative charges are called electrons. In an atom, the protons are located in the center, or nucleus, and the electrons revolve in a series of orbits around the nucleus. All electric charges are caused by the combined effects of proton and electron charges. The most common cause of static electricity is the rubbing together of two objects of different materials. Normally, materials have equal numbers of protons and electrons. The positive charges of the protons and the negative charges of the electrons cancel each other out, leaving no overall charge on the material. When rubbed, electrons move from the surface of one object to the surface of the other. The object that gains electrons has an overall negative charge, and the object that loses electrons has an overall positive charge, because it has more positive charges than negative charges. All materials can be charged, but there are some that can be charged more easily than others. These materials are called conductors. Metal, for example, can take on electric charge just as other materials can. However, electrons can move more freely in metals because they conduct electricity more efficiently. Some other good electric conductors are water and the human body. The
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Approximate Word count = 1069
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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