[ELI5] What causes static electricity?

299 views

My 5 year old nephew actually asked me this today and i had no way to explain before explaining what electrons are, what is a charge..

How do I simplify it?

In: 14

30 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

First you gotta explain friction by putting a shoe on a board and tilting it up. Then you take a balloon and rub it on the kids head and stick it to a wall and tell him lots of frictions make a static. The you shuffle on carpet in socks and shock him to show when static moves it can make a shock.
Anything more than that would hurt his head likely.

You are viewing 1 out of 30 answers, click here to view all answers.