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⚡ Static Electricity and Sparks

From a zap off a door handle to a bolt of lightning, discover how charges build up, why opposites attract and likes repel, and how sparks leap.

lessons

~15 min

to learn

🔬 Science

subject

Ages 6–12

level

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What you’ll learn

Charged UpUnderstand that static electricity is built-up charge and that rubbing moves charges.Static electricity is charge that builds up and stays on an object instead of flowing. Everything contains positive and negative charges, usually balanced. Rubbing two objects together, like a balloon on hair, moves tiny charges between them, leaving both charged.
Attract and RepelState the rule that opposite charges attract and like charges repel.Charged objects exert forces on each other. Opposite charges (positive and negative) attract and pull together, while like charges (two positives or two negatives) repel and push apart. This single rule explains why balloons stick to walls and why two rubbed balloons drift apart.
Sparks and LightningExplain how built-up charge jumps a gap as a spark, and that lightning is giant static.When enough charge builds up, it can suddenly jump across a gap to an opposite charge, making a spark. Lightning is this same process on a giant scale: charge builds in a storm cloud until a huge spark leaps between cloud and ground.

Questions this course answers

What is static electricity?

Static electricity is charge that builds up and stays put on an object, rather than flowing.

What happens when you rub a balloon on your hair?

Rubbing scrapes tiny negative charges from one onto the other, leaving both objects charged.

What do two like charges do?

Like charges repel, pushing each other apart.

Why does a rubbed balloon stick to a wall?

The balloon's charge attracts an opposite charge in the wall, and opposite charges attract.

What is lightning?

Lightning is static electricity on a huge scale, a giant spark leaping between cloud and ground.

What makes a spark finally leap across a gap?

When the charge difference grows too strong for the air gap to hold back, the charge leaps across as a spark.

Grounded in trusted sources

BBC Bitesize
The Physics Classroom
Britannica

Every Wunder lesson is built from real, reputable sources — never invented.

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