Static means steady, or unmoving. In physics, static electricity refers to that electricity which remains steady in a charged body. It is something that we come across in our daily life. An easy example could be the electricity produced when an object like a glass rod is rubbed against a piece of silk. Wonder how that happens? Let’s get to know.
The fact that electric current is produced by the flow of electrons is something we already know by now. It is the friction between two objects that often result in this electron-transfer. This is how static charge is produced too.
Take the example mentioned above. When a glass rod is rubbed against a piece of silk cloth, a few electrons from the rod moves to the cloth. As a result, the silk material turns negatively charged because of the excessive number of electrons. At the same time, having lost electrons, the rod becomes positively charged. As the process of rubbing continues, charge accumulated on the glass rod increases, and the pool of electrons that is formed on the other end creates what is known as ‘static electricity’.