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Static Electricity & Hair
Have you ever made your hair stand straight up by rubbing a balloon on it? If so, you rubbed some electrons off the balloon. The electrons moved into your hair from the balloon. They tried to get far away from each other by moving to the ends of your hair.
They pushed against each other and made your hair move - they repelled each other. Just as opposite charges attract each other, like charges repel each other.
Electricity has been moving in the world forever. Lightning is a form of electricity. It is electrons moving from one cloud to another or jumping from a cloud to the ground. Have you ever felt a shock when you touched an object after walking across a carpet? A stream of electrons jumped to you from that object.
This is called static electricity.
References:
Energy Information Administration (EIA)
USA.gov
Department of Energy
November 2007
www.eia.doe.gov