Makenna Cooper, Brooke Young, Javier Aranguren Electrostatics

Background Information Long before Benjamin Franklin, Francis Bacon and other scientists worked to perform an experiment that would inform everyone of the basic fundamentals of Electrostatics. About 40 years after Franklin electrocuted himself, Charles Augustine de Coulomb proved his law of physics. This law became the fundamental principles and theories that have established electrostatics. Also known as Coulumb's Law.

Question How long will a latex balloon stick to the palm of your hand, according to how long you rub it for?

How to do the demonstration I will rub the balloon on the palm of my hand for 3 seconds and then see how long it stays attached to my hand.

Materials Needed - Latex Balloon - Hand - Stopwatch

Step-by-step Instructions - Blow up latex balloon - Tie the end in a knot, so no air goes in or out - Rub the surface of the balloon on the palm of hand for 3 seconds to produce static electricity - Let go of balloon and notice the balloon stays attached to palm - Start a timer to see how long the balloon stays attached to the palm for - Stop timer when the balloon falls

Safety Precautions - Don't get shocked - Don't pop the balloon

Calculations ime that balloon was rubbed: 3 seconds Time that balloon stayed attached for: 1 minute, 54.01 seconds

Analysis of Results Our results showed that when rubbing the surface of the latex balloon on my hand for 3 seconds, the same balloon stayed attached to that hand for almost 2 minutes.

Conclusions I can come to the conclusion that because we produced a small amount of static electricity by rubbing the balloon, our balloon was able to stay attached to the same surface for almost 2 minutes, despite the force of gravity.

Evaluation The latex balloon was able to stick to the palm of my hand for almost a minute, after rubbing it on my hand for almost 2 minutes. Because of this, my hypothesis was incorrect.

Major concepts Electrostatics is electricity that is at rest. They invovle electric charges, forces and behavior. The use of electricity is all around us, and it is what holds atoms together to form their own molecules. The use of electricity can be manipulated to give society what they want.

Historical perspective Francis Bacon and other scientists were working hard to extract the fundamentals of Electrostatics using the same Amber experiments from centuries before. These experiments continued right up until Benjamin Franklin was able to prove that lightening was electric, static and capable of both positive and negative elements by electrocuting himself. About 40 years later, Charles Augustine de Coulomb was able to prove his law of physics (Coulomb's Law), and it was this law that became the fundamental principles and theories that have established electrostatics.

Application of concepts Today electrostatics are used as difibulators, paint spraying, reducing pollution, air frsheners and many more thingsThey use the property that opposite electrical charges attract. There are other uses involving the properties of repulsion and the creating of static electricity sparks.

Think and explain questions 1. The forces balance out leaving us to slightly feel the gravitational interaction. 2. When their separation distance is doubled, the electrical force is reduced by a factor of 4. When tripled, it is reduced by a factor of 9. 3.The rug is positively charged and our shoes are negatively charged. 4. the electric currents going through it make it move. 5. Yes because the leaves touching it determines the amount of the charge.

Think and explain questions 6. Rubbing your socks across the carpet . 7. They were rubbed together and got the charges from each other. 8. Coductors hold things in, like insulation. 9. Since they are neutral, they are attracted to both positive and negative charges being they have both. 10Because the existence of cosmic rays will take electric charge to the leaves and neutralize thecharges on the leaves.

Review questions 1. Electrical 2. Charge 3. Protons have a positive charge while electrons have a negative charge. 4. Yes 5. Proton 6. Usually have as many protons as electrons. 7. Like charges repel, opposites attract. 8. A positive has lost one or more electrons while a negaive ion has gained one or more.

Review questions 9. The rubber rod is negatively charges and the cat's fur is positively charged. 10. Electrons are neither created nor destroyed but they transfer from one material to another. 11. Both directly relate to the charges between two charged particles, but Colulom says distance matters while Newton said it didn't. 12. The SI unit is coulomb. 13. Coulombs gave a more realistic result while Newtons were unrealistic. 14. Most objects have equal numbers of electrons so the electrical force balances out but the gravitational force does not change, making it more dominant.

Review questions 14. Most objects have equal numbers of electrons so the electrical force balances out but the gravitational force does not change, making it more dominant. 15. The attraction gets stronger than the repulsion. 16. In conductors the atoms are free to roam but in insulators they are trappen and unable to roam. 17. Metals are good conductors because charges flow through it easily. Rubber is a good insulator because it is so thick. 18. Semiconductors could be either a conductor or an insulator. 19. A charge flows through them completely freely.

Review questions 20. Charging by friction, conduction and induction. 21. An electrical discharge between oppositely charged clouds. 22. To prevent lighting discharge to occur. 23. When one side of the atoms is slightly more positive or negative than the other side. 24. They experience net attraction . 25. When there is slightly more negative charge on one side of the molecule.