Dwayne’s Study Zombies

So.. static electricity!!! Makes your hair stand on end! It’s all science, I tell ya’, GED science! Yes, it is. And you can prove it. See, there’s this thing called a Van de Graaff Generator. Kewl science name, right? It’s a MYSTERIOUS object that makes your hair stand on end! No joke.

Here’s a link with a bunch of info on Van de Graaff Generators… http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/electric/vandeg.html …

Well, it’s, like, a machine for taking electrons out of a metal ball at the top… and since electrons are NEGATIVELY charged, the ball at the top gets POSITIVELY charged. And if you touch that Van de Graaff generator thing… you can make your hair stand on end. Because the ball is positively charged, it wants some ELECTRONS! It gotta have them!!! So, when you touch it… it’ll take ELECTRONS from you. An’ what happens? You give up a bunch of electrons… an’ your hair is all POSITIVELY CHARGED now. So…

You know all about static electricity an’ all that. Here’s your question… why’s your hair stand on end?

1) the positively charged hairs are repelled from each other and your head

2) the positively charged hairs are attracted to the ceiling

3) the ball now has no charge because of the extra electrons, and pushes your positively charged hair away

4) the positively charged hair is lighter because it has fewer electrons and so it floats upward

Okay. Now, I’ll give you some time to answer. Dum, da…dum, da….dum, da, dum. Dum-da-dum-dum-dahhh–dadadadada… Times up!!! Did you get it? What did you think was the answer?

Drumroll please…. The correct answer… is… answer 1!!! Remember… OPPOSITES ATTRACT. And that means, SAMES PUSH EACH OTHER AWAY. If all your hair is positively charged, it all wants to get away from each other! So your pieces of hair push each other as far away as possible…and they stand up on end!!! Kewl.

Now for the fun part. You can build a  Van de Graaff Generator at home! Yes, you can! And weird out all your friends. Here’s instructions…. http://web.singnet.com.sg/~sengam/construction.htm

Have some kewl GED science fun!!!

For more information about the GED test and GED test preparation, visit The GED Academy at http://www.passGED.com.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 14th, 2008 at 6:49 pm and is filed under GED Practice Question, GED Science, Physical science, Physics.
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