How Do You Test For Static Electricity

You will need a balloon a cotton towel a scissors and a plastic bag make sure an adult is present.

How do you test for static electricity.

While receiving this mild shock is annoying its generally not dangerous. While static electricity may seem unavoidable and relentless especially during the dry winter months eliminating static electricity is a lot easier than you would think. A static electric charge can be created whenever two surfaces. Static electricity is the result of an imbalance between negative and positive charges in an object.

One way to discharge them is through a circuit. For this experiment you will need a small copper plate a ground connection jumper wires with alligator clips white paper scissors a ruler a balloon hair a cotton t shirt a polyester t shirt carpet and a ceramic tile. This is because of static electricity. Whether you re building your own computer installing new ram or upgrading your pc s components you ll be opening it up and touching sensitive electronics components while doing this you should be careful of static electricity which can harm your computer.

This experiment will test the relative amount of static electricity in an object. Static electricity is an imbalance of electric charges within or on the surface of a material. What you ve just read is the traditional widely accepted explanation of static electricity and you ll still find it described that way in most school books. Static electricity is the build up of an electrical charge on the surface of an object which results from unequal positive and negative charges between two objects.

If you rub a balloon on your sweater you can get the balloon to stick to the wall or to your hair. The charge remains until it is able to move away by means of an electric current or electrical discharge static electricity is named in contrast with current electricity which flows through wires or other conductors and transmits energy. These charges can build up on the surface of an object until they find a way to be released or discharged. But in 2011 scientists reported some important new discoveries that seemed to suggest much more was going on.

You don t have to be completely paranoid about static electricity and there s no need to go overboard and buy an antistatic mat. Now test what you have learned by trying our static electricity experiment. But electrical equipment can be damaged by static electricity and if you happen to set off a zap while handling solvents or other flammables it can be a fire risk.