Here comes your little brother again! He has just learned that if he runs across the carpet and then touches your arm, he will "shock" you. He thinks it is great fun and you think it is annoying. I guess we have all done this before to our siblings, but have you ever wondered why it works? The answer is actually pretty simple.

First, you need to know about atoms. An atom has three basic parts, electrons, protons, and neutrons. The protons and neutrons are located inside the nucleus, or center, of an atom, and the electrons surround the nucleus. All three parts have different electrical charges. Protons have a positive charge, electrons have a negative charge, and neutrons don't have a charge, they are neutral. As long as an atom has the same number of protons as it does electrons, we say that the atom is balanced which means that it is neither positively nor negatively charged.

When your little brother runs across the carpet, he changes all that. His feet dragging on the carpet causes the charges on both the carpet and his feet to separate. Now your brother has increased his number of electrons making him negatively charged. You, standing there minding your own business, are a great target to unload his excess charge. Therefore, when he touches you, the extra electrons "jump" over to you giving you a mild, annoying electrical shock.

This type of electricity is called static electricity. It is called static because the electrical charge is on something and not moving or flowing. It is stationary. You are probably most familiar with the type of electricity in your home that flows continuously through wire. But the movement of electrons is not always a continuous flow. Sometimes electrons can move from one object to another and then remain at rest. However, they eventually leave the object. The loss of static electricity as electric charges move off an object is called electrical discharge. Sometimes the discharge is slow and quiet, but sometimes it is very rapid and accompanied by a shock, spark of light or a crackle of noise. Sometimes it is just annoying like when your brother zaps you!

Static electricity is all around us and affects us daily. Have you ever heard of static cling? That is when your clothes stick together when they come out of the dryer. Or how about a "bad hair day" when your hair just won't lay down? When you use plastic wrap to store food items what makes the wrap stick? Have you ever seen lightning? That is really big static electricity! All of these everyday occurrences are caused by static electricity. So as annoying as your brother can be at times, he is not the only one waiting to zap you. Beware!