Activity: What's the Story with Static Electricity? - UCLA

Activity: What’s the Story with Static Electricity? 

Subject Area(s): Physical Science 

Lesson Title: What’s the story with static electricity? 

Large amount of static electricity built up on a person. 

http://www.funnyphotos.net.au/images/static-electricity-hair-stand-on-end1.jpg 

Grade Level: 8 

Time Required: 1 hour 

Summary 

In this activity/lesson students are introduced to the basis of static electricity. First they are 

introduced to the structure of all matter, atoms. Specifically, the students learn that the structure 

of an atom is made up of sub-atomical particles (neutron, electron, proton) and relate the concept 

to explore static electricity, how it is created and its effects. Using a Van der Graaff generator 

for demonstration, students learn that static electricity refers to the build up of electric charges on 

the surface of objects. Students first make an observation (balloons on wall with static) and then 

they are asked to describe what they think is happening. The goal of the activity is to guide the 

students to make explorable questions about the concepts they are learning that they can test with 

simple materials. 

Keywords 

Atoms, static electricity, Van der Graaf 

Educational Standards

CA Science Standard: 

Grade 4 1E: Students know electrically charged objects attract or repel each other. 

Grade 8: 3a. Students know the structure of the atom and know it is composed of protons, 

neutrons, and electrons. 

3b. Students know that compounds are formed by combining two or more different elements and 

that compounds have properties that are different from their constituent elements. 

Material List: 

Van der Graaff generator (the generator comes with the supplies) 

(can you add the catalog number and purchasing detail, I couldn’t find it on line) 

Metallic balls 

Puffed wheat 

Styrofoam cup and balls 

Pre-Requisite Knowledge 

Students know electrically charged objects attract or repel each other. 

Learning Objectives 

After this lesson, students should be able to: 

Describe the structure of an atom. 

Define sub-atomical particles 

Understand that things are composed of more than one element with unique properties. 

Describe how static electricity forms. 

Introduction / Motivation 

All matter is made up of atoms. Atoms (Figure 3) are the basic building blocks of all matter. 

They have a nucleus that consists of the sub-atomical particles, protons, neutrons and electrons. 

To draw in the students describe the atomic make up of a human body. How many atoms are 

you made of? Proceed by having the students take a guess at the number of atoms that make up 

a human body (average weight of 70kg). 

~99% of human body is made up of: 

Hydrogen 

Oxygen 

Carbon 

Nitrogen 

Calcium 

Phosphorus

1% is made up of trace elements 

For simplicity concentrate on the most abundant: H, O, C: 

(write the guesses on the board) 

Then on the board write down the amount of atoms for each element and add them up: 

H: 4.7*1027 

O: 1.8*1027 

C: 7.0*1026 

Total: 7*1027 

(You can give the closest prediction a prize) 

Structure of an atom. 

http://www.sciencemadesimple.com/static.html 

Procedure 

Have the students rub a balloon on their heads and attempt to put it on the wall. Ask them what 

they think is happening? Next move on to use the Van der Graaff generator (Figure 2 shows the 

separation of charges) and explain the parts and have the students predict the demo. 

Allow the students to do their own testing using the supplies that come with the generator. Have 

the students make a team and give them one of the supplies and predict what the effect will be. 

The students must come up with the prediction and explanation then they can test it in front of 

the class.

Van der Graaff Generator. 

http://wpcontent.answers.com/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c2/Van_de_graaf_generator.svg/320 

px-Van_de_graaf_generator.svg.png 

Lesson Background & Concepts for Teachers 

Additional information: 

The following background information was obtained from: 


You walk across the rug, reach for the doorknob and..........ZAP!!! You get a static shock. Or, 

you come inside from the cold, pull off your hat and......BOING!!! Static hair - static electricity 

makes your hair stand straight out from your head. What is going on here? And why is static 

more of a problem in the winter? 

To understand static electricity, we have to learn a little bit about the nature of matter. Or in other 

words, what is all the stuff around us made of? Atoms. 

Everything we see is made up of tiny little parts called atoms. The atoms are made of even 

smaller parts. These are called protons, electrons and neutrons. They are very different from each 

other in many ways. One way they are different is their "charge." Protons have a positive (+) 

charge. Electrons have a negative (-) charge. Neutrons have no charge. 

Usually, atoms have the same number of electrons and protons. Then the atom has no charge, it 

is "neutral." But if you rub things together, electrons can move from one atom to another. Some 

atoms get extra electrons. They have a negative charge. Other atoms lose electrons. They have a 

positive charge. When charges are separated like this, it is called static electricity. 

If two things have different charges, they attract, or pull towards each other. If two things have 

the same charge, they repel, or push away from each other.

So, why does your hair stand up after you take your hat off? When you pull your hat off, it rubs 

against your hair. Electrons move from your hair to the hat. Now each of the hairs has the same 

positive charge. Things with the same charge repel each other. So the hairs try to move away 

from each other. The farthest they can get is to stand up and away from all the other hairs. 

If you walk across a carpet, electrons move from the rug to you. Now you have extra electrons. 

Touch a door knob and ZAP! The electrons move from you to the knob. You get a shock. 

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Vocabulary / Definitions 

Word Definition 

Atoms Building block of all matter 

Electricity The movement of electrical charge 

Electrons Subatomical particle made up of a negative charge rotates around nucleus of 

an atom 

Nucleus The nucleus of an atom consists of protons, neutrons and electrons 

Neutrons Subatomical particle with neutral charge 

Protons Subatomical particle with positive charge 

Van der Graaff 

generator 

Lesson Closure 

Electrostatic generator that uses a belt and metal spheres to separate charges 

and cause a static electrical effect 

End the activity by making a human chain and transferring the electricity from person to person. 

Have the students predict how the experiment would work best. For example with more people 

less people, what types of objects or substances would help transfer the shock easier (water, 

plastic, ect.). 

References 


http://www.howstuffworks.com/vdg.htm 

http://education.jlab.org/qa/mathatom_04.html

Owner 

Gloria C. Preza and Robin Nagle 

Contributors 

UCLA GK-12 workshop instructed by Warren Essey 

Brian Gabrich

Activity: What's the Story with Static Electricity? - UCLA

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