Author Topic: How to Measure Static Electricity?  (Read 2804 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline MistaMunTopic starter

  • Contributor
  • Posts: 16
How to Measure Static Electricity?
« on: September 10, 2015, 11:34:14 pm »
Hi!

Right now, I am trying to make "something" that creates enough static electricity to pick on small molecules with negative charge. So in retrospect, I thought rubbing some fur on the PVC piping might be the best way to start out to learn the concept of static electricity.

So the question, how do I measure what polarity the PVC pipe is charged to and how much it is charged? As I said, the small particle that I am trying to collect has negative charge and I need a way to make sure the charge on the PVC piping is always going to be positive.
 

Offline IanB

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 11790
  • Country: us
Re: How to Measure Static Electricity?
« Reply #1 on: September 11, 2015, 12:30:47 am »
Hi!

Right now, I am trying to make "something" that creates enough static electricity to pick on small molecules with negative charge. So in retrospect, I thought rubbing some fur on the PVC piping might be the best way to start out to learn the concept of static electricity.

So the question, how do I measure what polarity the PVC pipe is charged to and how much it is charged? As I said, the small particle that I am trying to collect has negative charge and I need a way to make sure the charge on the PVC piping is always going to be positive.

The sign of the charge you get depends on the two things you rub together. For example if you rub wool on glass the glass will end up with a positive charge. If you rub wool on rubber the rubber will end up with a negative charge.

(If you rub fur on PVC piping the piping will get a negative charge.)

You can discover the sign of an unknown charge by using a known charge. Like charges repel, unlike charges attract. However, a charged item will attract an uncharged item, so using repulsion is probably the best choice.

Measuring the amount of charge will be very difficult since the amount of charge is very small.

http://esdsystems.descoindustries.com/whitepapers/wp_Tribocharging.html
 

Offline Mr.B

  • Supporter
  • ****
  • Posts: 1237
  • Country: nz
Re: How to Measure Static Electricity?
« Reply #2 on: September 11, 2015, 12:52:40 am »
Dave uses a Surface DC Voltmeter in https://www.eevblog.com/forum/blog/eevblog-768-cordless-anti-static-wristbands-busted!/ to measure the static charge.

I don't know if it will do the job...
I approach the thinking of all of my posts using AI in the first instance. (Awkward Irregularity)
 

Offline MistaMunTopic starter

  • Contributor
  • Posts: 16
Re: How to Measure Static Electricity?
« Reply #3 on: September 11, 2015, 12:58:54 am »
Dave uses a Surface DC Voltmeter in https://www.eevblog.com/forum/blog/eevblog-768-cordless-anti-static-wristbands-busted!/ to measure the static charge.

I don't know if it will do the job...

So in the lab, I can use these Vernir LabQuest charge meters. http://www.vernier.com/products/sensors/crg-bta/ Will they do the job? They aren't the best equipment but for my purpose of finding the polarity, would this be ok or is this device irrelevant of what I am trying to find?
 

Offline IanB

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 11790
  • Country: us
Re: How to Measure Static Electricity?
« Reply #4 on: September 11, 2015, 01:26:41 am »
the small particle that I am trying to collect has negative charge and I need a way to make sure the charge on the PVC piping is always going to be positive

for my purpose of finding the polarity, would this be ok or is this device irrelevant of what I am trying to find?

If you check out the link I provided you will find that the charge on the surface of a PVC pipe is always going to be negative.

To get a surface with a positive charge you will need to use glass, acetate or nylon.
 

Offline flynwill

  • Regular Contributor
  • *
  • Posts: 143
Re: How to Measure Static Electricity?
« Reply #5 on: September 11, 2015, 04:13:35 am »
You might build one of these:

http://amasci.com/emotor/chargdet.html

Not particularly quantitative, but simple to build and can easily detect static fields (and deduce their polarity).
 


Share me

Digg  Facebook  SlashDot  Delicious  Technorati  Twitter  Google  Yahoo
Smf