W H A T I S S T A T I C E L E C T R I C I T Y
Static means not moving. Static electricity is an electrical charge that doesn't move. All materials are made up of atoms. An atom is the smallest particle of a material that still contains the properties of the material. Each atom consists of a positively charged nucleus around which one or more negative electrons move. In an idle state, the positive charge of the nucleus is equal to the sum of the negative charge of the electrons moving around the same nucleus. Therefore the charge is neutral (see figure 1). If the nucleus loses or gains electrons, an imbalance is caused. An atom that has lost one or more electrons then has a positive charge, and an atom that has gained one or more electrons has a negative charge and is called an ion (see figure 2). There are only two types of charge: positive and negative. Atoms with the same type of charge repel one another, while those with the opposite type of charge attract one another
