Question

Part 1:Things that attract little bits of paper are said to be electrically charged. The attraction is one kind of electrical interaction.Using the available equipment listed above, developa consistent way to charge and discharge the following objects:

1.A plastic or glass rod

2.A Styrofoam plate

3.A piece of Scotch tape

a)Carefully document in your notebook each successful method for charging and discharging the objects.a.Document any signs of static electricity, or any other important observations, occurring with these methods.

Part 2:You have probably already started to wonder how it is that objects become charged, or uncharged. To explore how something happens, it’s often useful to think about when it doesn’t happen, or when you think it might not happen. For the following experiments, you will rub the given pair of objects together, and determine if they have become charged.

a)For each pair below, record your predictions (in your notebookand on thewhiteboard) about whether or not the following objects will become charged.

a.Your hands

b.Two uncharged Styrofoam plates.

c.Two pieces of Scotch tape

b)After your predictions have been made, perform your experiments, and record your observations in your notebook.

c)For each pair, devise an explanation as to how each pair becomes charged or does not become charged. Summarize these explanations in your notebook and on the whiteboard.a.Why do you think some pairs become charged while others do not?

d)Discuss any assumptions that you made in devising your explanation and make note of these in your notebook.

Answer 1