Lab 1: Number of electrons removed in tape

Mubarak Alabd
Department of Physics and Astronomy, California State University Long Beach, CA
90840
July 14, 2017

Abstract:
Charge selected objects by rubbing them on silk; observe the effect of charge on small
objects around it. As when we rub the straw and brings it near to the small piece of paper
then we observe an electrostatic force.

Introduction:
You are probably aware of various phenomena associated with static electricity or static
charge. Some of the more familiar examples include: rubbing a balloon in your hair and
sticking it to a wall, getting a shock when you walk on a carpet and touch a doorknob, or
the sticking together of clothes taken from a dryer. Living in Florida, we are usually
spared the more severe effects of static charge.
Charge is the name given to the property of matter responsible for electromagnetic
interactions.
As you know, ordinary matter is composed of atoms of the various elements, and all
atoms are made from neutrons, protons, and electrons. Neutrons and protons reside in the
atomic nucleus around which the electrons are in continual motion. Neutrons have no
charge while the protons and electrons have equal but opposite charge, with the proton
charged positively and the electron charged negatively.
Normally, matter is uncharged with equal numbers of protons and electrons. However,
electrons are fairly mobile and quite a few can be removed from or added to a material by
simple rubbing. As the number of electrons added or removed increases, further charging
becomes more difficult. Because the force between charges is so strong, effects such as
attraction and repulsion can be quite noticeable even if only a very small fraction of the
atoms in a material gain or lose electrons.

Method/Experiment
1. Specific Materials

- Invisible tapes
- Several plastic drinking straws and straw pieces.
- Insulating Gloves
- One metric Ruler
Reasoning: The materials and tools mentioned above are easily accessible.

2. Procedure

Experiment 1
1. Prepare a pair of same length and oppositely charged invisible tapes by pulling
one tape from the other.

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 2. Fix the positive charged tape between two books and approach it by the negative
charged tape.
3. When the negative tape approaches close enough, the positive tape is lifted
upward. Use the ruler to measure the distance between two tapes.

Experiment 2
1. Prepare a charged straw and a neutral straw piece.
2. Put the straw piece on the table and approach it by the charged straw
3. When the negative straw approaches close enough, the piece straw is lifted. Use
the ruler to measure the distance before the piece attaches to the straw.

Experiment environment: Dry

Since humid air is easily ionized, it's obvious that better results for experiments on
electrostatics are obtained if such experiments were conducted under dry conditions.

3. Description/Table of Measurements

There are at least 5 trials. In Exp 1, only first row contains trial #, materials, mass,
distance, Q and # of electrons columns. Exp 2 shares the same table.

Trail # Materials Mass (g) Distance Q[C] # of

(cm) Electrons
1 Straw1 0.010 1 3.30e-8 2.06e11
2 Straw 2 0.10 1.5 1.57e-7 9.81e11
3 Straw 3 0.13 1 1.19e-7 7.4375e11
4 Straw 4 0.16 2 2.64e-7 1.65e12
5 Straw 5 0.18 1 1.4e-7 8.75e11
Average 0.116 1.3 1.426e-7 8.912e11

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4. Theoretical framework
Experiment 1
Electric force equal to gravitational force of the tape
Felectric=Fgrav
1 12
=
4 2

Q1=Q2 since the magnitude of the charge on the tapes is the same
m is mass of the tape
2
1 = ()
1
4
1 electron charge = 1.602*10-19 C
1
# =
1.602 1019
Experiment 2
Force exerted on the straw by the induced dipole equal to gravitational force of a piece of
straw.
Felectric=Fgrav
1 2 212
( ) ( ) =
4 5

m is mass of the straw piece

is the polarizability of the straw piece
5
1 =
1
2(4 )2
1 electron charge = 1.602*10-19 C
1
# =
1.602 1019

Results:
There is a graph between distance and number of electrons the graph shows the relation
between distance and number of electrons.

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 Distance
2.5

2
y = 6E-13x + 0.7556
R = 0.6798
1.5
Distance

0.5

0
0.00E+00 1.00E+12 2.00E+12
# of electrons

The slope of graph is 6e-13 which represent the number of electrons according to the
distance.

Summary:
From the experiment we have learnt that when the distance is decreased the number of
electrons also decreased. So we can say that these two parameters have some relation
which is direct.

References:
http://www.phys.ufl.edu/~meisel/PHY1033C-Electrostatics-Lab5.pdf
http://digitalcommons.uri.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1067&context=chm_facpubs