'Static' Electricity
Before the year 1832, when Michael Faraday published the results of his experiment on the identity of electricities, physicists thought "static electricity" was somehow different from other electrical charges. Michael Faraday proved that the electricity induced from the magnet, voltaic electricity produced by a battery, and static electricity are all the same.
Static electricity is usually caused when certain materials are rubbed against each other, like wool on plastic or the soles of shoes on carpet. The process causes electrons to be pulled from the surface of one material and relocated on the surface of the other material.
A static shock occurs when the surface of the second material, negatively charged with electrons, touches a positively-charged conductor, or vice-versa.
Static electricity is commonly used in xerography, air filters, and some automotive paints. Static electricity is a build up of electric charges on two objects that have become separated from each other. Small electrical components can easily be damaged by static electricity. Component manufacturers use a number of antistatic devices to avoid this.
Read more about this topic: Electrostatics
Famous quotes containing the word electricity:
“There are two great unknown forces to-day, electricity and woman, but men can reckon much better on electricity than they can on woman.”
—Josephine K. Henry, U.S. suffragist. As quoted in History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 4, ch. 15, by Susan B. Anthony and Ida Husted Harper (1902)