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Static electricity coursework

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Areefa Mohamed
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7 views3 pages

Static electricity coursework

Uploaded by

Areefa Mohamed
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Static electricity coursework.

1. Describe and explain what happens, in terms of the movement of charges in the following cases:
a. A glass rod is rubbed with a cloth- Electrons migrate from the surface of the rod to the
fabric when a glass rod is rubbed with a cloth, leaving the glass with an excess positive
charge and the cloth with an excess negative charge.

b. The rod in part a is then brought near to a small piece of uncharged paper- If the rod is
brought close to a small piece of paper, electrons in the paper travel to the side closest to
the rod, leaving an excess of positive charge on the far side, allowing the paper to adhere to
the rod due to the intense attraction between the positive glass and the surrounding
negative region of the paper.

2. A neutral metal dome supported by an insulated stand can be charged using a polythene rod
which has been rubbed by a cloth. Describe and explain, in terms of the movement of charges,
how this may be done by each of the following methods:
a. Induction method- on a neutral metal dome the negatively charged rod brought NEAR to the
dome repels electrons, leaving excess positive charge on the side closest to it.
The dome is grounded, allowing electrons to flow to earth. The excess positive charge
remains on the side nearest to the rod. The earth wire is removed without moving the rod.
The rod is removed allowing the positive charge to be distributed uniformly.
b. Contact method- Neutral metal dome on an insulating stand. The negatively charged rod is
rolled over the dome. The repulsive force between the electrons within it causes them to
transfer onto the dome. The contact method produces a charge of similar in sign to the
charge producing it.

3. Describe and explain:


a. The formation of lightning- Lightning Clouds become charged due to friction between layers
of air and water molecules rising and falling within it, base of the cloud now becomes
negatively charged and the top positively charged. Sparks occur between opposite charges
within the cloud, the negative charge on the base of the cloud repels electrons further into
the ground below, resulting in a net positive charge accumulating at the surface of the
Earth. When the potential difference between the base of the cloud and the surface of the
Earth is sufficiently large, electrons and negatively charged ions will rush from the cloud to
the ground, due to high speed ions crash into air molecules, knocking electrons out of them.
The result is an avalanche of positive and negative ions being produced which rush to the
cloud and Earth respectively.

b. How lightning conductors can protect buildings - The negative charge on the base of a
nearby cloud induces opposite charge at the spikes by repelling electrons down the copper
strip and into the ground. The positive charge at the spikes is very concentrated due to the
sharp curvature and it ionises nearby air molecules by ripping electrons from them. The
positive and negative ions produced rush to the base of the cloud and to the spikes
respectively, cancelling the charges there and reducing the potential difference to a safe
value.
4. Draw diagrams to show the electric field in the following regions:
a. Between two oppositely charged parallel plates
b. Around a negatively charged particle
c. Between and around two oppositely charged particles
d. Between and around two similarly charged particles.

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