Electrostatics in everyday life

Question: Describe briefly two applications of electrostatic phenomenon in everyday life.

Answer:
When you take off a pullover over a nylon shirt there is a crackling sound
A pen rubbed with a piece of cloth will pick up small pieces of paper
A television screen easily collects dust
You sometimes get a small electric shock when getting out of a car
If you roll over in bed you can sometimes see small flashes of light between the sheets
You can sometimes get a small electric shock from a cat that has rolled on a synthetic carpet
In a thunder storm there are huge flashes of lightning
ook covering film can be difficult to work with
!ther detailed applications
". A charged mesh in a chimney acts as an electrostatic dust collector# cleaning the smoke.
$. %aint sprays can be charged and the ob&ect they are spraying earthed to attract the paint
towards it.
'. (inyl records have to be cleaned to remove the static charge that builds upon their surface.
). %eople thought that static electricity was the cause of car sickness until it was remembered
that a static charge can only be on the outside of a hollow conductor like a car.
*. %hotocopiers work by a charged sheet attracting fine carbon powder to make the image
+. It can be shown that a water molecule is polar , that is it has one positive end and one
negative one. A stream of water can be deflected by a charged polythene rod placed
nearby
-. .apacitors
A capacitor stores static charge , in its simplest form it is two plates that are separated by
air. /ore charge can be stored by increasing the area of the plates# putting them closer
together or using another insulator instead of air. In a practical capacitor the plates are
usually rolled up with paper insulation in between them. In a radio receiver a variable
capacitor with moveable plates is used as the tuner.
0. %eople must take care when emptying oil tankers and refuelling aircraft to avoid a build up
of static charge due to friction that could make a spark and result in an e1plosion.
2. %roblems and uses of cling film
"3. 4ellotape sticking to everything e1cept what you want it to when you pull it off the roll