--- title: Static electricity: balloons, hair and sparks — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Static electricity: balloons, hair and sparks», a lesson of the physics course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Everything is made of tiny bits that carry electric charge, and rubbing two things together can move some of the tiniest, ca --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/physics/26-static-electricity-balloons-hair-and-sparks/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Physics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/physics/) / Static electricity: balloons, hair and… # Static electricity: balloons, hair and sparks Lesson 26 of the physics course of Mova's primary school: 17 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/physics/26-static-electricity-balloons-hair-and-sparks/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/physics/26-static-electricity-balloons-hair-and-sparks/0/) — Everything is made of tiny bits that carry electric charge, and rubbing two things together can move some of the tiniest, called electrons, from one onto the other. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/physics/26-static-electricity-balloons-hair-and-sparks/1/) — Rub a balloon on your hair and electrons move from your hair to the balloon; opposite charges pull, so your hair reaches for the balloon, while hairs with the same charge push each other apart and stand on end. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/physics/26-static-electricity-balloons-hair-and-sparks/2/) — When enough charge builds up it can jump across a gap as a spark, like the tiny zap from a door handle after you shuffle across the carpet, or the crackle of a jumper pulled off in the dark. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/physics/26-static-electricity-balloons-hair-and-sparks/3/) — Lightning is the same thing on a gigantic scale: ice and water bumping inside a storm cloud build huge charges that leap to the ground as a giant spark. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/physics/26-static-electricity-balloons-hair-and-sparks/4/) — A lightning rod gives that spark an easy metal path down into the earth, so it does not go through the building. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/physics/26-static-electricity-balloons-hair-and-sparks/5/) — Rubbing a balloon on your hair moves electrons onto the balloon, so the balloon and your hair carry opposite charges and pull on each other. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/physics/26-static-electricity-balloons-hair-and-sparks/6/) — Things with the same charge push each other apart, so charged hairs stand on end. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/physics/26-static-electricity-balloons-hair-and-sparks/7/) — A charged balloon sticks to a wall because it pulls on the charges in the wall; on a damp day the charge leaks away and it falls sooner. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/physics/26-static-electricity-balloons-hair-and-sparks/8/) — A rubbed comb can pick up bits of paper and even bend a thin stream of tap water. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/physics/26-static-electricity-balloons-hair-and-sparks/9/) — Walking on carpet can build up charge on your body, which jumps to a metal door handle as a tiny spark, more often in winter when the air is dry. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/physics/26-static-electricity-balloons-hair-and-sparks/10/) — A jumper crackles and sparks in the dark when you take it off, because rubbing fabrics build up charge and each crackle is a tiny spark. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/physics/26-static-electricity-balloons-hair-and-sparks/11/) — Clothes stick together after the tumble dryer because tumbling charges them, while clothes dried on a line in open air hardly ever cling, and a dryer sheet tumbled with them stops the charge building up. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/physics/26-static-electricity-balloons-hair-and-sparks/12/) — Dust sticks to a TV screen because the screen can carry a little charge, and a damp cloth removes both the charge and the dust. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/physics/26-static-electricity-balloons-hair-and-sparks/13/) — Lightning often strikes the same tall place again and again; the Empire State Building in New York is hit around twenty times a year. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/physics/26-static-electricity-balloons-hair-and-sparks/14/) — Lightning forms when ice and water bumping in a storm cloud build up huge charges that jump to the ground as a giant spark. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/physics/26-static-electricity-balloons-hair-and-sparks/15/) — For a split second a lightning bolt is hotter than the surface of the Sun. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/physics/26-static-electricity-balloons-hair-and-sparks/16/) — A lightning rod gives lightning an easy metal path down a thick wire into the earth, and Benjamin Franklin invented it. - ← previous: [Keeping warm and keeping cool: insulation and sweat](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/physics/25-keeping-warm-and-keeping-cool/) - next →: [Batteries, circuits and how electricity flows](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/physics/27-batteries-circuits-and-how-electricity-flows/) - ↑ back to [Physics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/physics/)