---
title: "Static electricity and sparks"
description: "Explain static electricity as the build-up of electric charge through friction, describe how charged objects attract or repel each other, and relate static discharge to everyday phenomena such as ligh"
canonical: https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/static-electricity-and-sparks-mt_2_YoprauaJ
source: https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/static-electricity-and-sparks-mt_2_YoprauaJ.md
retrieved: 2026-10-19
---

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# Static electricity and sparks

Explain static electricity as the build-up of electric charge through friction, describe how charged objects attract or repel each other, and relate static discharge to everyday phenomena such as lightning

Subject: Science · Area: Energy · Ages 11 to 12
Page: https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/static-electricity-and-sparks-mt_2_YoprauaJ

## Ready when they can

- Explains that rubbing transfers electrons from one material to another, creating opposite charges
- States that like charges repel and unlike charges attract
- Links the concept of static discharge to the formation of lightning as a large-scale electric spark

## Lesson: Static electricity and sparks

Every object is made of atoms, and atoms have tiny parts called electrons that carry a negative charge. When you rub two objects together, like a balloon and your hair, some electrons jump from one object to the other. The object that loses electrons becomes positively charged, and the object that gains electrons becomes negatively charged. That buildup of charge is called static electricity.

*(drawing: Rubbing makes electrons jump from your hair onto the balloon. The balloon ends up negative, and your hair ends up positive.)*

**Example.** Rub a balloon on your hair, then slowly pull it away. Your hair strands often stand up and spread apart. Each strand loses electrons to the balloon, so all the strands end up with the same positive charge. Since like charges repel, the strands push away from each other and reach toward the balloon.

Charged objects follow one rule: like charges repel, and unlike charges attract. Two negative charges push apart, two positive charges push apart, but a positive charge and a negative charge pull together. That is why a negatively charged balloon can stick to a wall. It pulls the wall's charges just enough to hold itself in place.

**Tip.** Lightning works the same way on a much bigger scale. Inside a storm cloud, ice crystals and water droplets rub against each other and build up a huge charge. When that charge grows large enough, it jumps between the cloud and the ground as one giant spark, which is lightning.

**Recap.** Rubbing moves electrons and builds up charge, unlike charges attract while like charges repel, and lightning is that same kind of spark on a giant scale.

## Practice

8 questions on this page, each with its working shown.

## Needs first

- [Current, voltage, and what they measure](https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/current-voltage-and-what-they-measure-mt_2bnXrfS4Iq)
- [Conductors and insulators](https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/conductors-and-insulators-mt_d-EKO-pKkP)

## Opens up

- [Static Charge and Electric Fields](https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/static-charge-and-electric-fields-mt_6ii6CVOTI5)