Higher:
Can use an experiment as an example, is able to explain how static electricity occurs
Middle:
Is able to describe the movement of electrons causing static electricity
Lower:
Can identify when they have felt static electricity, touching a handle, or clothing rubbing against hair
Lesson Starter: Ask children if they have ever received a static shock of electricity? What did it feel like?
Ask pupils if they have ever got a shock from touching a door handle or had their hair stand on end when removing a jumper over their head?
Presentation - Starter Slide
Learn about static electricity and where and how it happens. Answer questions throughout the presentation.
Talk Partners: 30 Second Challenge: With your talk partner describe a moment when you have experienced static electricity.
Key Concept:
During this unit, each lesson contains a key concept question housed in the '30 Second Challenge' slide. To help children master this content so the knowledge moves from their short term memory to their long term memory, at the beginning of the follow on lesson the question from the previous lesson is revisited.
The questions covered during this unit include:
1. How can you tell if a balloon is charged?
2. What is an electric circuit?
3. What is the output of a circuit?
4. What is a conductor? What is an insulator?
5. What is the difference between a rail signal crossing and a set of traffic lights?
6. What’s the difference between a resistor and a variable resistor?
Presentation
Career Film: This is Jo Boocock. Jo works for Network Rail as an Infrastructure Maintenance Delivery Manager. Jo chose to work for the rail industry because she is committed to customer safety. How might static electricity impact a rail customer and what will Jo need to do to manage this?
Expert Film: Rhys Phillips, a research engineer for Airbus, talks about static electricity.
Discuss with pupils what they have learnt from the film that they did know already
How we deliver the Gatsby Benchmarks:
2 - Learning from career and labour market information: Pop along to Developing Experts career’s zone to find out about jobs in your area.
4 - Linking curriculum learning to careers: This unit showcases careers in the rail industry. Access our 360° virtual work tours.
7 - Encounters with Further and Higher Education: Pop along to Developing Experts career’s zone to find out about training providers in your area.
Presentation - Expert Film
Comparing Static Generators
Method and results table available on the handout and on mission assignment film.
1) Place the shredded tissue paper evenly over a table.
2) Standing clear of the table, rub the cloth over a balloon for approximately 10 seconds.
3) Hold the balloon approximately 5cm over the tissue paper with the area that has been rubbed pointing towards the tissue paper.
4) Count how many pieces of tissue paper are picked up and stick to the balloon, record this number in your table.
5) Reset the tissue paper and repeat steps 2-4 using a different object. You have space in your table to try your own objects too.
Comparing Static Generators
Fabric cloth
Balloon
Plastic ruler
Wooden ruler
PVC pipe
Aluminium cloth
Shredded tissue paper
Handout
Quiz
With their talk partners, the children are to go through the quiz at the end of the presentation and answer the questions.
Quiz in presentation
Can the children explain how materials can become statically charged?
Can the children design a comparative and fair test which explores which materials can become statically charged?
Can the children record their results accurately?
Quizzes in pupil zone.
Unit knowledge organiser and test available in unit documents area.
Static electricity happens when...
An object can become charged by...
The Science Behind the Science
Atoms are comprised of two main parts: the nucleus is positively charged and the electrons surrounding the nucleus are negatively charged. If the number of positive charges is the same as the number of negative charges then the atom is neutral (i.e. it has no overall charge). If a substance loses electrons then it will become positively charged and if a substance gains electrons then it will become negatively charged.
When two charged materials are brought together, they will repel each other if their charges are the same (e.g. if they are both negatively charged) and they will attract each other if their charges are opposite (e.g. if one is positively charged and the other is negatively charged). Also, the two objects will attract each other if one is charged and the other is not charged.
Static electricity is defined as an imbalance of charges in a material. For example, if you rub a balloon on someone's hair, the balloon will gain electrons from the hair. This leaves the balloon negatively charged and the hair positively charged, so they will attract one another. The charged balloon can also be stuck to a wall or used to attract pieces of paper. In these cases, the negatively charged balloon induces a movement of negative charges (away from the balloon) in the initially uncharged wall or paper. This creates a region of positive charge that will then be attracted to the negatively charged balloon.
Associate the brightness of a lamp or the volume of a buzzer with the number and voltage of cells used in the circuit; compare and give reasons for variations in how components function, including the brightness of bulbs, the loudness of buzzers and the on/off position of switches; use recognised symbols when representing a simple circuit in a diagram.
Forces, electricity and waves - Electricity - Through investigation, I understand the relationship between current, voltage and resistance. I can apply this knowledge to solve practical problems. SCN 4-09a
Forces and Energy: the study of energy, its origin, storage and transfer and the work it can do; the study of forces; the application of scientific understanding through inventions and machines.
Carrying out simple, comparative and fair tests
Recording data and results of increasing complexity using scientific diagrams and labels, classification keys tables, scatter graphs and / or bar and line graphs.
Grade 6 Electricity and Circuits