Electrostatics

Electrostatics (also known as static electricity) is the branch of physics that deals with apparently stationary electric charges.

Electrostatics involves the buildup of charge on the surface of objects due to contact with other surfaces.

Although charge exchange happens whenever any two surfaces contact and separate, the effects of charge exchange are usually only noticed when at least one of the surfaces has a high resistance to electrical flow. This is because the charges that transfer to or from the highly resistive surface are more or less trapped there for a long enough time for their effects to be observed.

These charges then remain on the object until they either bleed off to the ground or are quickly neutralized by a discharge: e.g., the familiar phenomenon of a static 'shock' is caused by the neutralization of charge built up in the body from contact with non-conductive surfaces.

Examples

• The attraction of plastic wrap to ones hand when one has removed it from a package.
• Spontaneous explosion of grain silos.
• Damage of electronic components during manufacturing or the operation of photocopiers.

Electrostatics Media

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  Foam peanuts clinging to a cat's fur due to static electricity. The electric field of the charged fur causes polarization of the molecules of the foam due to electrostatic induction, resulting in a slight attraction of the light plastic pieces to the fur. This effect is also the cause of static cling in clothes.

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  Summary of electrostatic relations between electric potential, electric field and charge density. Here, \mathbf r = \mathbf x - \mathbf{x'}.

Related pages

• Electromagnetism
• Ionic bond
• Lightning
• Luigi Galvani

References

• Faraday, Michael (1839). Experimental Researches in Electricity. London: Royal Inst.e-book at Project Gutenberg
• Halliday, David; Robert Resnick; Kenneth S. Krane (1992). Physics. New York: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 0-471-80457-6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Griffiths, David J. (1999). Introduction to Electrodynamics. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-805326-X.
• Hermann A. Haus and James R. Melcher (1989). Electromagnetic Fields and Energy. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. ISBN 0-13-249020-X.

Other websites and further reading

General

• RMCybernetics: High Voltage Physics Archived 2007-09-25 at the Wayback Machine. Homemade projects & experiments.
• "Man's static jacket sparks alert". BBC News, 16 September 2005.

• "Can shocks from static electricity damage your health? Archived 2009-07-05 at the Wayback Machine". Wolfson Electrostatics News pages.
• "Can Gravity be an Electrostatic Force? Archived 2008-08-09 at the Wayback Machine" A Quantum theory of Gravitation, 2005.
• invisible wall of static

Essays and books

• William J. Beaty, "Humans and sparks; The Cause, Stopping the Pain, and 'Electric People". 1997.
• William Cecil Dampier, "The theory of experimental electricity". Cambridge [Eng.] University press, 1905 (Cambridge physical series). xi, 334 p. illus., diagrs. 23 cm. LCCN 05040419 //r33