Интернет-журнал "Домашняя лаборатория", 2007 №3
Шрифт:
• synthetic rubber
• polyester
• styrofoam
• orlon
• saran
• polyurethane
• polyethylene
• polypropylene
• polyvinyl chloride (PVC pipe)
• teflon
• silicone rubber Most negative
(items at this end steal electrons)
Our Van de Graaff generator uses a glass tube and a rubber band. The rubber band steals electrons from the glass tube, leaving the glass positively charged, and the rubber band negatively charged.
The second trick
The triboelectric charging is the first trick. The second trick involves the wire brushes.
When a metal object is brought near a charged object, something quite interesting happens. The charged object causes the electrons in the metal to move. If the object is charged negatively, it pushes the electrons away. If it is charged positively, it pulls the electrons towards it.
Electrons are all negatively charged. Because like charges repel, and electrons are all the same charge, electrons will always try to get as far away from other electrons as possible.
If the metal object has a sharp point on it, the electrons on the point are pushed by all of the other electrons in the rest of the object. So on a point, there are a lot of electrons pushing from the metal, but no electrons pushing from the air.
If there are enough extra electrons on the metal, they can push some electrons off the point and into the air. The electrons land on the air molecules, making them negatively charged. The negatively charged air is repelled from the negatively charged metal, and a small wind of charged air blows away from the metal. This is called "corona discharge", because the dim light it gives off looks like a crown.
The same thing happens in reverse if the metal has too few electrons (if it is positively charged). At the point, all of the positive charges in the metal pull all the electrons from the point, leaving it very highly charged.
The air molecules that hit the metal point lose their electrons to the strong pull from the positive tip of the sharp point. The air molecules are now positive, and are repelled from the positive metal.
The third trick
There is one more trick the Van de Graaff generator uses. After we understand the third trick, we will put all of the tricks together to see how the generator works.
We said earlier that all electrons have the same charge, and so they all try to get as far from one another as possible. The third trick uses the soda can to take advantage of this feature of the electrons in an interesting way.
If we give the soda can a charge of electrons, they will all try to get as far away from one another as possible. This has the effect of making all the electrons crowd to the outside of the can. Any electron on the inside of the can will feel the push from all the other electrons, and will move. But the electrons on the outside feel the push from the can, but they do not feel any push from the air around the can, which is not charged.
This means that we can put electrons on the inside of the can, and they will be pulled away to the outside.
We can keep adding as many electrons as we like to the inside of the can, and they will always be pulled to the outside.
Putting all three tricks together
So now let's look at the Van de Graaff generator with our three tricks in mind.
The motor moves the rubber band around and around. The rubber band loops over the glass tube and steals the electrons from the glass.
The rubber band is much bigger than the glass tube. The electrons stolen from the glass are distributed across the whole rubber band.
The glass, on the other hand, is small. The negative charges that are spead out over the rubber band are weak, compared to the positive charges that are all concentrated on the little glass tube.
The strong positive charge on the glass attracts the electrons in the wire on the top brush. These electrons spray from the sharp points in the brush, and charge the air. The air is repelled from the wire, and attracted to the glass.
But the charged air can't get to the glass, because the rubber band is in the way. The charged air molecules hit the rubber, and transfer the electrons to it.
The rubber band travels down to the bottom brush. The electrons in the rubber push on the electrons in the wire of the bottom brush. The electrons are pushed out of the wire, and into whatever large object we have attached to the end of the wire, such as the earth, or a person.
The sharp points of the bottom brush are now positive, and they pull the electrons off of any air molecules that touch them. These positively charged air molecules are repelled by the positively charged wire, and attracted to the electrons on the rubber band. When they hit the rubber, they get their electrons back, and the rubber and the air both lose their charge.
The rubber band is now ready to go back up and steal more electrons from the glass tube.
The top brush is connected to the inside of the soda can. It is positively charged, and so attracts electrons from the can. The positive charges in the can move away from one another (they are the same charge, so they repel, just like electrons). The positive charges collect on the outside of the can, leaving the neutral atoms of the can on the inside, where they are always ready to donate more electrons.
The effect is to transfer electrons from the soda can into the ground, using the rubber band like a conveyor belt. It doesn't take very long for the soda can to lose so many electrons that it becomes 12,000 volts more positive than the ground.
When the can gets very positive, it eventually has enough charge to steal electrons from the air molecules that hit the can. This happens most at any sharp points on the can. If the can were a perfect sphere, it would be able to reach a higher voltage, since there would be no places where the charge was more concentrated than anywhere else.