Module 3
1. Module 3
1.3. Lesson 1
Module 3—Electrical Phenomena
Lesson 1—Electrostatics
Get Focused
© NOAA US Gov
This photograph shows a young woman at a lookout platform in a mountain park. Her brother was so surprised to see her hair standing on end that he took this photograph. Moments after the photograph was taken, lightning struck the platform, seriously injuring the woman and others on the platform.
What caused the woman’s hair to stand on end? How was this an indicator that lightning was about to strike? Is there a safe way to observe and analyze related phenomena in the lab?
In this lesson you will focus on answering the following essential questions:
- Can the concepts that explain large-scale phenomena like lightning be explored using small-scale equipment like a Van de Graaff generator?
- How can these concepts explain what happens to charges within a cloud during a lightning strike?
Module 3 Lesson 1 Assignments
Your teacher-marked Module 3, Lesson 1 Assignment requires you to submit a response to the following questions:
- Assignment—A 1, A 2, A 3, and A 4
- Discuss—D 4
The other questions in this lesson are not marked by the teacher; however, you should still answer these questions. The Self-Check and Try This questions are placed in this lesson to help you review important information and build key concepts that may be applied in future lessons.
After a discussion with your teacher, you must decide what to do with the questions that are not part of your assignment. For example, you may decide to submit to your teacher the responses to Try This questions that are not marked. You should record the answers to all the questions in this lesson and place those answers in your course folder.
Required Materials and Equipment
For this lesson, you will need
- two spherical balloons (about 25 cm in diameter)
- 2 m of thread
- something made from wool (e.g., a piece of cloth, wool sweater, sock, tuque, or blanket)