Have you experienced slight electric shocks when touching a door knob or turning a handle, especially in cold winters? Though harmless, it is quite annoying to get shocks every time you touch some metallic object. Many of us know that this is caused due to the action of static electricity. How exactly does this happen? Let us explain this with the help of a simple static electricity balloon experiment.
Materials required
Balloon – 1
Tissue paper – 1
Woolen cloth – 1
Steps to follow
- Cut the tissue paper into small pieces, and lay it on top of a table.
- Inflate the balloon, and tie a knot at the end.
- Hold the inflated balloon over the paper shreds. Do you see any change in the paper pieces? No, they are stationary, as before.
- Now rub the balloon against the woolen cloth.
- Hold the rubbed balloon over the paper shreds.
- What do you see? The paper shreds are pulled to the balloon.
What we learn
The rubbed balloon was able to attract paper shreds, while the normal balloon was not. This happened due to the build-up of static electricity in balloon. Static electricity is an imbalance of electric charges on the surface of a material.
Every material is made up of atoms that contain an equal number of positive and negative charges, or protons and electrons respectively. When two objects rub against each other, the negatively charged electrons may move from one object to the other, resulting in an imbalance of charges. As a rule, objects with opposite charges attract each other, and those with same charge repel.
In our experiment, wool is a conductive material, which means that it will easily part with the electrons. So when rubbed against balloon, some electrons from wool jumped to the balloon, making the balloon negatively charged. When the negatively charged balloon was held over the neutrally charged paper, it repelled electrons from the balloon, and attracted protons from the paper to the balloon. This exchange of charges caused balloon and paper to stick together.
Now let us think about the first problem in our hand, getting electric shocks in winters. Our body has the tendency to pick up negative charges, or electrons. In winters, the air is dry and it becomes difficult for the electrons to move. They pile up on the surface of our body. When we touch a door handle, the built-up electrons find a way out, and jumps to the handle. This is when you get that sudden shock. When the air is humid, electrons can move easily, and they won’t accumulate.
Now you know why we get those nasty static shocks only in winters, right? Explore our Experiments section, to find more interesting experiments.
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