How do you get static electricity? How does that work?
In: 5
No one knows the precise physical mechanism, but there’s something called the Triboelectric series which tells you which materials are likely to generate it when rubbed (Trib- in this case being the prefix for rubbing). The energy involved *shouldn’t* be enough to strip electrons, far from it, but for unknown reasons that isn’t the case. The leading theory involves the very not ELI5 idea that similar atoms can sort of “share” their electrons, and when moved apart those electrons stay with one or the other atom.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triboelectric_effect
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