Uses and examples of Static Electricity

Uses and examples of Static Electricity

1.     Photo Copiers:

All you need to do when working a photocopier is adjust the paper in the allocated scanning area and configure some options and your document or paper is photocopied. So what really happens under that cover? A photo copier actually uses static electricity to move text and pictures from the original document into other paper copies. We know that opposites attract and that if you rub an object such as a rubber balloon with human hair ,negatively charged electrons will start jumping from your hair to the balloon leaving your hair positively charged. If you then bring the balloon close to your hair you will observe static electricity and will find that your positively charged hair is being attracted to the negatively charged balloon. This concept is used in the photocopier where the balloon is a special drum made of photoconductive material that is negatively charged with a corona wire. The copier also contains a very fine black powder known as a toner or black ink and can be attracted by the drum full of a negative form of static electricity. The drum is only selectively charged by the corona wire on the areas of the image where there is black and not charge the drum on the areas that are white. In that way the black ink is only attracted in those areas and an image is created. This concept is also used for colored ink.

Citation:

1.Meeker-O'Connell, Ann.  "How Photocopiers Work."  01 February 2001.  HowStuffWorks.com. 28 May 2010.

2. "Uses of Static Electricity." HubPages. Web. 28 May 2010. .

2.     Car Painting

Weirdly enough, car painting is another real-life example on how static electricity is used. Have you ever wondered how paint will stick to a car? Well, the paint used to paint the car is first charged with a negative static charge using the spray while the metal body of the car is submerged in a substance that will create a positive static charge on it. In that way the paint will be attracted to the car part using through the concept of opposite charges attract. This will ensure two things. First, that now there is a uniform layer of paint so that when there is enough negative paint on the car, the new paint will repel the old paint that was already on the car. Second, this uniform layer is able to resist high speeds and weather conditions to ensure that the car’s metal interior is protected and that the paint won’t come off.

Citation:

1. "WikiAnswers - How Do You Paint Using Static Electricity." WikiAnswers - The Q&A Wiki. Web. 28 May 2010. .

2. "Uses of Static Electricity." HubPages. Web. 28 May 2010. .

3.     Dust Removal

To myself, this is probably the last thing I thought static electricity could be able to do. To my own surprise, static electricity is used to help appliances such as air purifiers and enable dust removal. This occurs by the appliance altering static charges to the dust particles allowing a force to pull the dust particles to a plate or filter in the air purifier that is oppositely charged also using the concept of opposites attract. The same concept is used in industrial smoke stacks where their aim is reduce the percentage of pollution that they are producing as a waste product. Static electricity is used the same way as in the air purifier to enable pollution control. It works by also altering static charges to the dirt and dust particles which then cling on to oppositely charged collecting plates on the upper area inside the smoke stack because of the concept of opposites attract. In this way a reduction to the amount of pollution that is created and that will enter the atmosphere.

Citation:

1."Uses for Static Electricity - Succeed in Understanding Physics: School for Champions." School for Champions: Online Lessons for Those Seeking Success. Web. 28 May 2010. .

2."Uses of Static Electricity." HubPages. Web. 28 May 2010. .