What is Static Electricity?⚡

Morning Sparky!

Imagine this:

You're walking down from your room.

Rubbing your feet on the carpet.

And you go to reach towards the metal doorknob that leads into the kitchen.

And then…

ZAP!

You get a shock passing right into your finger.

But… why does this happen?

Well, to understand what's going on here, first you gotta know a bit about how matter works.

Everything you can touch is made up of little things known as atoms.

And atoms are made up of 3 other littler things known as:

Ok, so normally, the negative electrons and the positive protons balance out.

Creating matter that is electrically neutral.

(most matter is actually like this)

But the thing is, electrons are teeny tiny and weigh almost nothing.

Meaning sometimes a little bit of rubbing can give loose electrons juuust enough energy to escape from their atoms and migrate to a different surface.

When this happens, the first object (in this case Durd’s foot) is left with more positively charged protons than electrons.

Making it positively charged.

While the other object (in this case the carpet) now has more negatively charged electrons than protons.

Making it negatively charged.

Makes sense right?

This situation is what's called a charge imbalance.

But there’s a problem…

Nature REALLY doesn't like this charge imbalance.

So when one of these newly positively charged surfaces comes into contact with a conductive surface like a metal that has really loose outer electrons…

These loose electrons from the metal quickly hop right over to try to equalize everything.

Creating a ZAP!

Stay Cute,
Reece, Henry & Dylan 🌈

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