Teacher’s Guide

STATIC ELECTRICITY
It’s a Snap

WHY TEACH IT?

If you have avoided this topic in the past because you felt you lacked the necessary background to explain it to your students, here are some reasons why you should reconsider:

Most Students Have Encountered Static Electricity in Their Daily Lives. As a result, relevance is built-in. Unlike some other science units we teach that have pupils asking ‘Why do we have to study this?” there is genuine interest on the part of students based on their previous experiences with static electricity You can capitalize on this.

It Is Inexpensive to Teach in a Hands-On Fashion (the only way to teach). If you read through the booklet you will see that a plastic comb per student, a roll of aluminum foil, large glass jars, plastic margarine-tub lids, thread, ground black pepper, tape, and some common stranded wire are just about all you will need. Wool fabric scraps (about six inches square) are needed as well, but check with a home economics teacher for remnants before you buy any If you must visit the fabric store, buy the ugliest (usually the cheapest) wool remnant you can find for students to use. They’ll love thinking it was once part of your wardrobe. It would also be nice to have other types of fabrics available later for comparison.

There’s Really Nothing to It. The shocking truth about static electricity, if you’ll pardon the pun, is that it is an easy unit to teach. All you need to know to do a creditable job is condensed into the following paragraphs:

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Two parts of an atom are responsible for the effect we call static electricity: the proton and the electron. Protons have one kind of charge, called positive (+); and electrons have an opposite kind, called negative (-). Normally, an object has equal numbers of protons and electrons. Therefore, it doesn’t exhibit any electric charge. Such an object is neutral.

Electrons are rather loosely held by atoms, unlike protons. So if you think of them as the only particles that are free to move, you’ll find it much easier to explain how entire objects can be charged. Think of a negatively charged object as having gained electrons by some action, thus giving it more electrons than protons. Think of a positively charged object as having lost some of its electrons by some action, so now it has more protons by comparison.