"Static" Electricity
This topic is broken into units to help in formulating cohesive, effective lessons. Clicking on each unit title below will display appropriate activities, lesson plans, or labs.
Unit materials are a subset of all possible materials available for this topic, selected especially with the new physics teacher in mind. You may instead browse all materials for this topic here .
Conceptual Physics "Static" Electricity Units
Characteristics of "static" electricity include: 1)The number of of positive and negative electric charges within a material may not be equal, 2)voltage is high and current is low, 3) electrical forces (attraction and repulsion) can reach across great distances, and 4) electric fields (as opposed to magnetic fields) become very important. (Electric fields are also called "electrostatic fields" or "e-fields." Units are not listed in a prescribed order.
Lesson Plans:
This page links to five lesson plans in static electricity for beginning learners. Designed for easy set-up, the lessons are intended to help beginners understand charge, electrostatic induction, and how transfer of electrons occurs.
(Open Website )
This lesson plan for beginners includes a creative update of the "Kissing Balloon", plus three activities designed to enhance student understanding of electric charge, electron transfer, and polarization. Try teaming it with Chasing Cheerios below.
(Open Website )
A Cheerio is suspended from a string and brought in contact with a charged plastic ruler, then neutralized by touching it. This lesson illustrates both induction and conduction. A second activity is included, with a printable student data sheet and reference materials.
(Open Website )
Using neo bulbs as a "test charge" for a current or for an electric field. this is a description for a lesson plan or activity.
(Open Website )
Activities:
The "snacks" are scaled-down versions of exhibits relating to electricity at the Exploratorium museum. Find activities related to electrostatics, charge, force and field potential, and circuits.
(Open Website )
This engaging simulation enhances understanding of electric field lines. By "drawing" lines from simulated charges on a color-coded field, the learner can explore vector field diagrams and form concepts about strength/direction of field lines.
(Open Website )
References and Collections:
This item introduces a collection of materials on the scientific works of Benjamin Franklin, integrating historical background with descriptions of the actual lab experiments.
(Open Website )
This website offers 15 lecture demonstrations designed to promote the process of inquiry as students discover laws of electrostatics. Items range from capicitors to an inexpensive moving charge sensor.
(Open Website )
This free textbook resource was created by a veteran professor who blends written materials from "lectures that worked" with calculus-based problems and solutions. The first two chapters deal with electrostatic phenomena.
(Open Website )
Content Support For Teachers:
Common misconceptions about the topic of electrostatics are fully explored in this resource for both teachers and learners. The author debunks more than a dozen myths as he offers comprehensive explanations of related phenomena.
(Open Website )
This NASA resource is a complete "primer" on the subject of lightning. It includes an easily understood description of the lightning discharge process, modern data collection,and a brief history of the scientific study of lightning.
(Open Website )
Student Tutorials:
This is a great tutorial that explains to the students how static electricity works. The accompanying animation helps students visualize the process of induction.
(Open Website )
This tutorial/animation goes into greater depth to explain and illustrate the process of induction.
(Open Website )
Using simulations, this web site offers the student tutorials for electrostatics.
(Open Website )
Assessment:
This is a teacher-made electrostatic quiz not meant to be fully definitive, but as an example. It is a short answer quiz.
(Open Website )
Lesson Plans:
This is a nice lesson explaining the electricity that is carried in water currents.
(Open Website )
Activities:
This is a great site that has many different activities that teachers can incorporate into their lessons about electromagnetic fields.
(Open Website )
In this game-like environment, students place positive and negative charges on a simulated ice field. Getting the puck into the goal can be easy or complicated, depending upon the charge interaction.
(Open Website )
This simulation enhances understanding of electric field lines. By "drawing" lines from simulated charges on a color-coded field, the learner can explore vector field diagrams and form concepts about strength/direction of field lines.
(Open Website )
Visualizing electric field lines helps the student reinforce and comprehend the rules behind them. With a mouse click, you can toggle between positive and negative charges, observing how this changes the direction of the field lines.
(Open Website )
References and Collections:
Resource, suport and help with electrostatics.
(Open Website )
Content Support For Teachers:
This site is a great content source for teachers that explains electric fields and even gives an assessment at the end.
(Open Website )
In this free resource, topics are connected in a well-organized concept map. One click takes the teacher from electric field to related topics such as Gauss' Law, capacitance, and calculations related to force and field potential.
(Open Website )
Student Tutorials:
This entertaining tutorial helps students undertand electric force fields. Animations and simulations supplement the conversational text.
(Open Website )
This chapter in an online educators' guide is devoted to a conceptual exploration of electric field. It is framed as a side-by-side comparison of electrostatics and gravity, which helps beginners gain understanding of how charge interaction is described and calculated in physics.
(Open Website )
Assessment:
This is a multiple choice traditional online quiz (with hints) for electric fields.
(Open Website )
Lesson Plans:
A lesson plan for electrostastics based on Florida state standards (but similar to national and other state standards).
(Open Website )
Activities:
Definitions, explanations and applications of the inverse square law to electrostatics forces
(Open Website )
References and Collections:
Content Support For Teachers:
This web page illustrates the concept of work against an electric force using examples of the Van de Graaff generator and lightning.
(Open Website )
In this free resource, topics are connected in a well-organized concept map. This section gives a concise, yet thorough explanation of Coulomb's Law and how it it is used to determine the electric force between charges.
(Open Website )
Student Tutorials:
Tutorials and simulations for electrostatic phenomena
(Open Website )
Assessment:
Lesson Plans:
This lesson plan for the teacher of beginning high school physics and/or physical science provides directions for making a simple electroscope and updates the classic "kissing balloon" activity with creative additions. Included are printable student data sheets.
(Open Website )
Activities:
The classic demonstration of charging an aluminum pie plate by induction is depicted in this animation, with detailed text to explain grounding and separation of charge.
(Open Website )
This item gives step-by-step animated depictions of charge interations when a balloon is brought near a charge detecting device.
(Open Website )
Content Support For Teachers:
In this free resource, topics are connected in a well-organized concept map. One click takes the teacher from capacitors to related topics such as dielectrics and circuits.
(Open Website )
This resource blends text with interactive java simulations to provide an excellent overview of the topic of capacitance. It includes descriptions of how electric capacitors work and introduces simple calculations.
(Open Website )
Student Tutorials:
Capacitors are electrical devices designed to store electric charge. In this interactive java tutorial, students explore factors affecting capacitance and gain understanding of how it is related to electrostatic force field.
(Open Website )
Lesson Plans:
In this site there is an activity of electromagnetic charges that could be incorporated in to a lesson.
(Open Website )
A neon bulb is an object that can be lighted either by electric current or by static electricity. This creative lesson, which requires no math, helps students form an understanding of electron transfer. Included is a printable student data sheet.
(Open Website )
Activities:
This animation illustrates the effect when a negatively-charged balloon is brought near two neutral conducting spheres.
(Open Website )
This site has all the information needed to understand the operation and maintenance of Van de Graaff generators. The author includes helpful hints for classroom demonstrations.
(Open Website )
In this game-like environment, students place positive and negative charges on a simulated ice field. Getting the puck into the goal can be easy or complicated, depending upon the charge interaction.
(Open Website )
Content Support For Teachers:
This is a great site to use as a teacher for content support of a lesson plan on electric charge.
(Open Website )
This NASA resource is a complete "primer" on the subject of lightning. It includes an easily understood description of the lightning discharge process, modern data collection,and a brief history of the scientific study of lightning.
(Open Website )
Student Tutorials:
This item explores electrostatic forces that cause lightning. It includes a nine-minute related video and an "Ask The Expert" question-answer set.
(Open Website )
Activities:
Franklin's second letter about transfer of electrical fluid in Leyden jars is accompanied by descriptions for setting up the experiments in a classroom.
(Open Website )
This item highlights Benjamin Franklin's historic first letter about points and Leyden jar experiments, describing how to set up the labs in the classroom.
(Open Website )
This item integrates a third historic Franklin letter with directions on how to construct a flat-plate capacitor and an electrostatic motor.
(Open Website )
Franklin's theory of atmospheric electrification is highlighted, with diagrams and annotations to enhance student understanding.
(Open Website )
This resource takes learners on a journey through history with primary source historical documents (written by Franklin) about his lightning rod experiments. It includes a translation of a 1752 experiment conducted in France. It is intended for integration with the item directly above.
(Open Website )
This web page integrates historic text and drawings with annotations and ideas for applying Franklin's theory of electrostatic induction in labs designed for the modern high school science classroom. It includes a 1750 letter by Franklin describing an accident resulting in his own near-electrocution.
(Open Website )
References and Collections:
This web site contains materials regarding the scientific work of Benjamin Franklin, and lab exercises related to experiments he performed. Writings and historical observations are integrated with lab descriptions to give students a better insight into his work.
(Open Website )
Content Support For Teachers:
A history and explanation of electrostatics charge and force
(Open Website )
Lesson Plans:
Exploring static electricity using simple household items.
(Open Website )
Activities:
Using balloons to explore static electricity for the early grades.
(Open Website )
References and Collections:
A history of how static electricity has been explored.
(Open Website )
Content Support For Teachers:
Tutorials to help the primary teacher understand the concept of static electricity.
(Open Website )
Assessment:
Can playing a game assess understanding of static electricity?
(Open Website )
