Lesson 6: History & Theories of Static Electricity

Ancient Times
If you ask people who discovered electricity, theyll probably tell you names like Benjamin Franklin (flying his kite during a lightning storm), Thomas dison (invents the light bulb), or !lessandro "olta (makes the first batteries)# did# These are NOT the people who discovered electricity$ lectricity was first mentioned in the works of a %reek scientist named Thales of &iletus in about '((B)$ Thales noticed that if amber (hardened tree sap) was rubbed, it had the ability to pick up dust and leaves *hat he was seein+ is what we now call ,static electricity !nother %reek named Theophrastus noticed in .((B) that other substances had static electricity if rubbed# &llust ation 1+ ,mbe pendants /nfortunately neither Thales nor Theophrastus had any -photog aphed by ,d ian scientific e0planation for it1 they just thou+ht it was .ingstone/ interestin+# *hat they did reali2e was that sometimes two objects would attract each other, sometimes they would repel# This developed into the idea that there are two kinds of char+e (we call them positive and ne+ative today, which will be discussed shortly)# 3ike char+es repel 4pposite char+es attract# This is usually called the Law of Charges#

Middle Ages
In 5'((!6 an n+lishman named *illiam %ilbert started studyin+ Did You Know? William Gilbe t !as the "ou t these phenomena# Physician to both #ueen 7e wanted to come up with a +ood scientific e0planation for $li%abeth & and 'ing (ames &. these ancient discoveries# )his meant that he acted as an 7e was actually the first person to use the word ,electric,ad*ise in scientific matte s which is a variation of the %reek name for amber# !lthou+h he had only some success in describin+ electricity, he was able to show that there were differences between ma+netism and electricity that seemed to indicate that they were completely different thin+s# For e0ample, an amber rod had to be rubbed to have electric effects8 a ma+net was always a ma+net (didn9t need to be rubbed)# /p until that point most scientists had believed electricity and ma+netism were just different versions of the same thin+#

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The Franklin Era

Benjamin Franklins Experiments
Benjamin Franklin (5:(';5:<() started his investi+ations after %ilbert# =es, he did fly a kite on an overcast day (no actual li+htnin+), but he wasnt the first person to do it$ >everal people had tried to do it before him to prove that li+htnin+ was electrical, but theyd all been killed# &ost people thou+ht he was a nut to do it# In fact, he had his son set up most of the e?uipment while he stood back# Franklin was able to prove that li+htnin+ was a dischar+e of static electricity (this does NOT mean he discovered electricity$$$) &ost of Franklins research actually focused on amber rods1 It had been found that if a rubbed amber rod was dan+lin+ from a strin+, and another rubbed amber rod was brou+ht near, the dan+lin+ one would move away# If a dan+lin+ rubbed glass rod is brou+ht near another rubbed glass rod, the dan+lin+ one would move away# If a rubbed glass rod and amber rod were brou+ht near to each other, they were attracted# Therefore, the char+e on the glass must be different from the char+e on the amber$ Franklin decided to say that1 the glass rod had a positive char+e the amber rod (or the plastic ebonite used today) had a negative char+e *hy did he choose to call glass positive and amber negative@ Ao reason$ 7e knew they were different and opposite to each other, so he just picked one to be positive and the other negative.
&llust ation 2+ $bonite is a type of plastic often used in physics because it can easily build up a static cha ge.

Franklins Single Fluid Theory

Franklin developed what he called a ,single-fluid- theory to e0plain the results he was +ettin+# !ccordin+ to this theory, all matter contains an ,electric fluid-, a substance that Franklin thou+ht all matter in the universe had# 7is electric fluid had a positive charge# !n object with a positive char+e has an e0cess (too much) of this positive electric fluid# !n object with a ne+ative char+e has a deficiency (too little) of of this positive electric fluid# Franklin backed up his theory with the observation that if a certain amount of char+e is produced in one object, an e?ual amount of opposite char+e is produced on another object# For e0ample, lets say you rub a balloon on your head# The balloon will +ain just as much negative char+e as your hair will +ain positive char+e# !ccordin+ to this model, the electric fluid flows from one object to the other# Franklin used the idea of negative and positive to fi+ure out al+ebra problems, since if you char+ed anythin+, the two objects char+es would add up to 2ero# This would be like if you rub a plastic ruler with a paper towel# The ruler has a negative char+e, and the paper towel and e?ual positive char+e# The char+es are separate from each other, but add up to 2ero#

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Modern Theories
!lthou+h Franklins sin+le fluid theory is not e0actly ri+ht, it did lead him to a law that we still use today in physics1 The net amount of electric char+e produced in any process is 2ero This just means that even thou+h you can move around char+es, you cant create or destroy them# Example 1: =ou have two similar objects8 one of them has a char+e of B:, and the other has a char+e of ;.# They touch, share their char+es, and then are moved apart# 6etermine the final char+e of each of the objects# *hen the two objects touch, their char+es will redistribute# *e need to add them al+ebraically, and then fi+ure out what the char+e on each is# B: B ;. C BD EEE This is the total net char+e between the two objects# BD F G C BG EEE >ince the char+e is shared between the two objects, each is BG# The net char+e at the start was BD, and the net char+e afterwards was still BD# In the past 5(( years it has become clear that these char+es depend on the makeup of the atom itself, not on some ,fluid The nucleus is made up of protons (positive) and neutrons (neutral), surrounded by electrons (negative) in orbit# In a ,normal- state the electrons and protons balance out, so the char+e is neutral# >ometimes the atom may lose or +ain electrons# Aothin+ happens to the stable nucleus made up of protons and neutrons# It is the electrons that are bein+ stripped off or added on because they are on the far outside ed+e of the atom# If the atom loses electrons it will have a positive char+e1 if it +ains electrons it has a negative char+e# ither way, it is now called an ion# /sually when an object is char+ed by rubbin+, the char+e only lasts a little while1 where does the char+e +o@ &ost of the char+e ,leaks off- to water molecules in the air Hemember, water is a polar molecule, which means one end is more negative and the other is more positive# The positive end can temporarily pick up electrons# This is why there is more static electricity in the winter# The air is more dry, so the electrons arent picked up as often#

Law of Conservation of Charge

Homework
p#IG. JG, .

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