Karen M. Kornett, age 10, of Newport News, Virginia, roe her lw.estion:

What is static electricity?

Ira. the world of atoms, there are two kinds  f electricity, positive and negative. The two opposite forces attract each other and tend to pull together like the opposite poles of two magnets. The atom is built from particles, some charged with negative and some with p:;sitive electricity. Its quota of positive particles is packed in the hard, central nucleus. Its negative particles are energetic electrons that orbit around the nucleus billions of times a second. The positive particles in a normal atom are balanced with an equal number of negaLive electrons.

But electrons tend to stray, taking their negative electric power with them. The friction of a brush may wipe them from the atoms in your hair. This leaves the atoms with extra quotas of positive electricity. Like magnets, they pull at the opposite negative charges, now stuck to the brush. The two charges may unite again with a crackle of what we call static electricity. On a larger scale, the same kind of electron swiping occurs in turbulent thunderheads. Electric current is different from static electricity because the electrons move through the wires in an orderly parade.