 Electrical Insulator - a substance where electrons cannot move freely from atom to atom.  Electrical Conductor – a substance where electrons can move freely from atom to atom.

 Oil  Rubber  Plastic  Wax  These objects hold electrical charge and build up static charge better than conductors, however even though they hold static electricity, they can protect us from electric shock

 Silver  Copper  Aluminum  Iron  Gold  Because the electricity is transferred as soon as it is produced, there is no build up of static electricity.

 Why is static electricity more evident in the winter months??  Less water vapour in the air, or the air is dryer which means that it is an insulator and does not easily pick up charges from our body and therefore creates a static build up.

 When a charged object is connected, or grounded, to Earth, it shares its charge with the entire Earth.  This means that the charge is removed or spread out over a larger surface.

 Induction occurs without direct contact of an object.  Remember: charging by friction and charging by contact occurs only when the objects rub against or touch one another.

 When an uncharged object, such as a dust particle, is charged by induction, the nearby charged object doesn’t actually touch the dust particle at all.  A computer screen or television screen becomes charged when it is turned on.  When a dust particle is near a television screen, the charges on the screen cause (induce) the electrons on the dust to change position.  This causes the dust particles to have an opposite charge than the charge on the television screen.

 About 2000 thunderstorms are occurring throughout the world at any given time, creating 100 lightning strikes every second, or about 8 million strikes daily.  Lightning involves exchanging electric charges between the atmosphere and the Earth.  Electric charges are constantly being removed from the Earth’s surface by different processes.  Ex. Evaporation of water molecules, exhaust gases.

 When thunderclouds form, huge numbers of negative charges concentrate near the bottom of the cloud.  When the negative charge at the base of the cloud moves over tall objects, such as a building, it is sometimes close enough to return the ground in a huge spark, called lightning.  The jagged path that lighting has is caused by the electric charges moving along the path of least resistance in the air.

 Lighting tends to hit taller objects because the taller objects shortens the path to the ground, especially if they are metal conductors.  Why are you safe in a car during lightning storms?  Rubber tires aren't why you're safe in a car during a lightning storm. In strong electric fields, rubber tires actually become more conductive than insulating. You're safe in a car because the lightning will travel around the surface of the vehicle and then go to ground.

 LE4 LE4