Electricity Glossary Terms

Energy that occurs when protons and electrons interact.

Example; Electricity lets you charge your phone.

Static electricity is a type of electricity that stays on the surface of an object as opposed to flowing away.

Example; Laundry stick together after it's done as a result of static electricity.

When static charge is caused by two objects (of opposite charges) rubbing together.

Example; Rubbing your feet on carpet and then touching someone and shocking them.

An electrostatic series is a table of objects that are ordered by their hold on electrons

Example; 

A material that makes it hard for electrons to move around.

Example; Glass, rubber, porcelain.

A material that is easy for electrons to move around in.

Example; Ebonite, silver, copper, gold.

A material that electrons can move partially easy in.

Examples; Silk, paper, cotton.

An object that is neutrally charged, and can neutralize a charged object because of it's massive supply of electrons.

Example; Earth. Since it has many electrons it remains neutral despite all the electrons transferred between it and a charged object, and it can neutralize any object.

An electroscope is used to detect the presence of electric charges. With the traditional electroscope, when a charge is touched to the sphere metal ball at the top the charges flow through and widen the aluminum foil leaves in the glass. With a pith ball electroscope the charges result in the pith ball moving or even sticking to the object charging the pith ball.

Examples; 

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• Pith Ball Electroscope:
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When a neutralized object is charged by direct contact with a charged object.

Example; Refer back to the electroscope pith ball picture, though the charges are not shown assume that the rod is negatively charged, and the pith ball is neutral. When the negatively charged rod touches the pith ball, both become negatively charged.

• Laws that explain how two charges or one charge interact with each other.
•  The laws state that two like charges repel, and two opposite charges are attracted to each other. This includes neutrally charged objects even though that's not in the diagram.

Examples; 

When the space around an object is charged because of the object's charge.

Example;

When the electrons of an object shift within an object solely because of the electric field of a nearby object.

Example;

A group of charged atoms, or just a charged atom.

Example; One positive atom by itself would be an ion, but a group of positive atoms would be an ion too.

A metal rod or sphere that is attached to the highest part of a building to insure that lightning gets to the ground safely, without damaging anything.

Example;

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•  A lightning rod at work;

A cleaner that removes unwanted particles and droplets of liquid from gas. It's very effective for reducing pollution from smokestacks.

A Van De Graaff Generator is a device that accumulates very large charges.

Example;

A clip on device that measures exposure to radiation. It's very helpful to people who work with radioactive materials, or equipment so that they know when they are exposed to radiation.

Example;