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Last Update:
Aug 12, 2002

SCIENCE EDUCATION STANDARDS 
Physical Science Activity Example

  

"Charge It!"

 

NSES: Physical Science Content Standard B:  As a result of the activities in grades 5-8, all students should develop an understanding of transfer of energy.

 

Michigan Essential Goals and Objectives for Science Education Standard: Physical Sciences

Describe the interaction of charged materials with other charged or uncharged materials.

 

Science concept: Electrical charges

Grade Level: 6th

Materials needed: Scotch Brand Magic TapeŇ or similar store-brand Tape       

Activity: Pull a 10-cm length of tape from the roll.  Fold over a 1-cm length to provide a handle.  Press the tape to a hard surface (a desk or a counter top).  Make a second, identical, piece and stick it to the surface in the same way you stuck the first piece.   Take one piece of tape in each hand and quickly pull the tapes up.  Slowly bring the two pieces of tape together but don’t let them touch anything or each other.  What happens?  Describe what you observed. 

 

Scientists call the tapes “charged,” although it is not clear from these activities what they are “charged” with.  You prepared the tapes in the same way.  How would you describe the forces between two tapes that are charged the same way (charged alike)?

 

Gently pat each piece of tape between your thumb and forefinger until you have touched every part of the tapes.  Again bring them together.  What happens?  Describe what you observed.  Did the tapes lose their “charge”?

 

Press the two tapes on the surface again.  Pull them off quickly.  What happens? What can you conclude about being “charged”?

 

If you let go of a piece of tape it will fall toward Earth.  The force of gravity also acts on the tape.  Did patting the tapes change this force?

 

Press one tape on the surface.  Press the second tape on top of the first.  Write the letter “B” on the tape that’s on the bottom of the sandwich; “T” on the top tape.  Pull them off the surface together slowly.  Now pat them between your thumb and forefinger until they are no longer charged.  Describe your observations that allow you to conclude that they are not charged.

 

Now pull the two tapes apart.  Slowly bring the two pieces of tape together.  What happens?  Described what you observed.  What can you conclude about the way they are charged. Are they charged in the way that two tapes charged alike were?

 

What conclusions can you make about the way “charge” is created?  Before the two tapes were pulled apart were they charged?  How could you describe the way they were charged after they were pulled apart?

 

Extension:

1)       You have undoubtedly experienced other objects becoming charged.  Perhaps when you took clothes out of the drier you found socks stuck to shirts, or you noticed your hair attracted to a sweater you pulled over your head.  Are they charged like the top, or “T” tape or the bottom or “B” tape? 

2)       To find out, you can hang charged “T” and “B” tapes from the edge of your desk or the shade of a lamp and bring other charged objects near the tapes.

3)       You may have noticed that all charged tapes are attracted to your hand.  Therefore you cannot judge the charge of an object by noting which tape it was attracted to.  Rather, you should note that if the tape is pushed away from (repelled from) the test object, then it is has the same charge as the test object.

Try charging a variety of objects by rubbing them with different materials.  Try a variety of plastics, glass, or metals that you rub with wool, silk or nylon, and plastic wrap (SaranŇ wrap).  Make a list of those that are charged the same as “T” and those charged the same as “B.”

 

**At this point you would write at least one paragraph in your own words explaining the concept of the static electricity.

 

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