A technician slides a plastic storage box across a synthetic rubber workbench.
The box becomes negatively charged because of the friction between the box and the workbench surface.
Explain why the friction causes the box to become negatively charged.
The box is represented by the sphere in the diagram below. The box is negatively charged.
Describe how to complete the electric field pattern by adding three more arrows to the diagram.
The negatively charged technician then touches an earthed metal water pipe and receives a small electric shock.
Explain why this happens.
To prevent this, the workbench is covered with an anti-static mat made of a polymer containing embedded carbon particles. The technician is much less likely to receive a shock when using this mat.
Explain why.
Static electricity (physics only) Questions
Practise AQA GCSE Physics Static electricity (physics only) with exam-style questions for Foundation and Higher tier. 18 questions covering Static charge and Electric fields, matched to the AQA GCSE Physics (8463) specification and written in Paper 1 and Paper 2 style. Every question includes a full worked solution and mark scheme, so you can see where marks are awarded rather than just whether you got the answer right.