How Do Weather Conditions Affect the Generation of Static Charge?

Overview

Objectives/Goals My project was to determine what affect different weather conditions have on the magnitude of static charge produced by rubbing a comb with various types of cloth. Methods/Materials A standard black comb was rubbed with each of four types of cloth (fake fur, polar fleece, cotton, tissue paper) for 20 seconds to produce a static charge on the comb. The magnitude of the charge on the comb was measured by placing it near a 1/8th inch stream of water and measuring the deflection of the water stream with a ruler taped in the sink. The temperature of the room was increased using the built in heater. Running the shower increased the relative humidity of the room. I did each measurement 2 times and under conditions of cool-dry, warm-dry, cool-humid, and warm-humid. Results The greatest static charge was produced under dry-cool conditions for all of the cloths used to produce static charge on the comb. The smallest static charge was produced under warm-humid conditions for all cloths except tissue paper. Conclusions/Discussion My conclusion is that temperature and humidity both influence the degree of static charge that can be built up on an object.

Competition history

• CSEF 2008 Physics & Astronomy · Entry J1615

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

Related projects

Closest projects by meaning, across every fair and year in the corpus.

Browse more like this

• All Physics and Astronomy projects
• CSEF Physics and Astronomy projects
• Every CSEF 2008 project