Static electricity (British Columbia)

A shocking encounter!

Your hair stands up. Sparks fly as you’re getting dressed. Do you feel an electric discharge when you shake a friend’s hand? No doubt, you’re a victim of static electricity! Our young scientists will explore this phenomenon using our incredible Van de Graaff generator (250,000 volts) and Wimshurst machine. These experiments will make their hair stand on end!

Objectives at the elementary level:

• Describe what electricity is.
• Understand the concepts of atoms, electrons, protons, as well as positive and negative charges.
• Understand how lightning is formed.
• Distinguish between magnets and the electrostatic phenomena.
• Know the difference between conductivity and thermal insulation.
• Understand how this electricity manifests itself in everyday life (car, carpet or balloon)
• Understand why static shocks are more common in winter.

Objectives at the secondary level:

• Identify static electricity as the transfer of electrons from one body to another.
• Be familiar with the electrification methods of a charge.
• Associate elementary particles with their electric charge (protons, neutrons and electrons).

Describe the behaviour of electric charges opposite or of the same sign close to each other.