| Term Paper Title | Static Electricity |
| # of Words | 992 |
| # of Pages (250 words per page double spaced) | 3.97 |
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 elektron, 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 matter 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.
There are also some substances that conduct little or no
electricity. They are called insulators. Some common insulators are
amber, glass, plastic, rubber, and dry wood. The behavior of
conductors and insulators can be easily explained. In some atoms,
electrons in the outermost orbits are held loosely, and can be easily
set free. They are called free electrons. Materials made up of these
kinds of atoms have many free electrons, which makes them good
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