Thread: Static Electricity

I am trying to generate some static electricity to pick up paper. I am using an idea of creating an electrode by connecting a polyethylene rod (PVC pipe) to one of the terminal of 12V DC battery. But the electrode is not picking up the paper. By rubbing the PVC pipe with fur I am able to induce static, but not using battery.
Any ideas on how to simply generate static electricity without using mechanical methods like rubbing with fur/wool ? Thanks.

My understanding of the static electricity we deal with everyday when our socks rub on the carpet generates a large voltage. Somewhere on the order of 10's of thousands of volts. If you can safely replicate that, then you have it made. The safe part is the hard part. You need current limiting devices. I won't go into the details of generating high voltage AC because I don't want to be considered responsible for any accidents.

If this:

Originally Posted by sunsheer

I am using an idea of creating an electrode by connecting a polyethylene rod (PVC pipe) to one of the terminal of 12V DC battery.

is a measure of how much you still have to learn about electricity,

then the simple answer to this:

Originally Posted by sunsheer

Any ideas on how to simply generate static electricity without using mechanical methods like rubbing with fur/wool ?

.... is please don't even try without some supervision from a competent and responsible person.

Yeah, don't kill yourself. I would feel bad. Go to school. There are a lot of great ones out there, especially OSU.

If you want to create static electricity without using mechanical means, use a cathode ray tube such as that from a TV or computer monitor, and fire it at some aluminium foil which will become negatively charged, and allow you to pick up small pieces of paper/dust.

the foil can be connected in series to ground through a capacitor or leyden jar. the disconected cap/leyden jar will remain charged for some time (until leakage current rebalances the charges in the device).