Students should be able to define static electricity and tell how it is different than dynamic electricity. Static electricity is the buildup of electric charge on the surface of objects. The electric force is static, meaning that it doesn't come from a current of electricity or from a power source, but instead from positive and negative charges from the atoms and molecules in objects.
Students must understand what happens when neutral, positively charged or negatively charged objects come into contact with one another. Static electricity is created due to the material makeup of objects as they interact. Materials are made out of electrically neutral molecules and atoms, so they have an equal, or neutral, amount of positive and negative charge. A separation of these charges occurs when materials come into contact and exchange charges. When these materials are then separated, they sometimes leave an imbalance of charges, which results in a static electrical charge.
Students must learn about the effects of static electricity. They can physically experience the effects, so you can teach this objective with hands-on experiments in which students can see, feel or hear a spark . The effects of static electricity, such as a spark or hair standing on end, occur when an excess electrical charge is brought near something with excess of the opposite charge, either positive or negative.
Students must learn about the creation of static electricity. Demonstrate it by showing how objects attract or repel one another in variable conditions. Static electricity can be created by rubbing certain materials together. Shoes on carpet or wool on plastic are two examples that will generally create an electrical charge. You can also rub a balloon on your hair and watch your hair stand up as it is attracted to the charges in the balloon. Dry air is a better conductor than humid air for static electricity, which is why hair can become more frizzy during dry and cold weather.