LESSON PLAN 1
What Is Lightning?
Lightning
6–8
Lightning, a large-scale electric charge, balances the difference
between positive and negative charges within clouds. Lightning strikes
can cause fires in dry underbrush, which prepare the land for new
growth. In this way, they are an essential part of nature’s cycle of
renewal.
Lightning Science
Key Terms and Concepts
discharge
electrophorus
electroscope
flash
lightning
negative charge
positive charge
strike
thunder
Purpose
To help the students discover what lightning is and its relationship
to static electricity
Objectives
The students will—
• Use You’re the Scientist: The Charge Carrier and You’re the
Scientist:The Sticky Static Charge to investigate the nature of electric charges.
• Create an electrophorus (Greek for “charge carrier”) with the help
of You’re the Scientist: The Charge Carrier to illustrate how an
electric charge can be stored.
• Use electric equipment to test the conductivity of various materials. (Linking Across the Curriculum)
• Create a lightning chart to illustrate the distance from a particular
location to a lightning stroke based on the time between the flash
and the bang; discuss how this knowledge will help them take
steps to protect themselves and others in a timely way. (Linking
Across the Curriculum)
• Research the Internet or science texts to explain the relationship
between lightning and thunder. (Linking Across the Curriculum)
• Use You’re the Scientist: The Sticky Static Charge to create an
electroscope to illustrate how a charge can be identified.
• Use You’re the Scientist: The Sticky Static Charge to demonstrate
positive and negative charges and a static charge without friction.
• Explain static electricity to their families using ordinary objects
found at home. (Home Connection)
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Activities
“The Charge Carrier”
“The Sticky Static Charge”
Lightning
6–8
LESSON PLAN 1
What Is Lightning?
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“The Charge Carrier”
SET UP 25 minutes CONDUCT 40 minutes
Science: Physical Science and Inquiry; Language Arts: Writing
Lightning
6–8
LESSON PLAN 1
What Is Lightning?
To understand the concepts in this lesson plan, students must be
familiar with the following words:
adhesion
atom
bonding
charge
contact electrification
electrophorus
(elec-TRÄ-for-us)
electrons
friction
ionized
negative charge
neutral charge
positive charge
repel
static electricity
Have the students look in science texts or other media for definitions for
the words in the list above. Work with the class to compile the students’
findings into a simple mini-glossary on electricity.
Materials
For each team:
• You’re the Scientist: The
Charge Carrier, 1 copy per
group
• Foam dinner plate
• Wool cloth
• Disposable aluminum pie pan
• Foam cup
• Masking tape
1. Tell the students that one way to understand lightning—a large-scale
electric charge—is by understanding electric charges on a smaller scale.
Have student teams use You’re the Scientist: The Charge Carrier to
discover more information about electric charges.
2. You can begin by telling the students that—
• Rubbing the foam plate with the wool cloth attracts electrons to
the plate, giving it a negative charge.
• Placing the aluminum pie pan on the foam plate causes the electrons on the foam to repel the electrons on the metal.
• The surrounding air and the insulating foam force the pan to retain
its neutral charge because the electrons cannot leave the pan.
• When you touch the pie pan while it is close to the foam, electrons flow from the pan and onto your finger. The electrons
make the spark you see.
• The air in the spark is ionized—moving electrons carry away
TEACHING NOTE The neutral finger and the negatively charged pan illustrate
induction—the charged pan induces a charge on the neutral finger without ever
touching it.
other electrons from molecules of air. The ionized air emits light
and sound and you feel the electrons flow through your finger.
• Once the electrons jump to your finger, the pie plate has a positive charge. If you bring the pie pan close to other objects, it will
attract more electrons and send off another spark.
Adapted from “Science Snacks” from the Exploratorium in San Francisco,
California. Visit http://exploratorium.edu/snacks/.
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3. As the students follow the steps on the activity sheet, guide them in
recording their results in their scientific journals.
Answers to You’re the Scientist: The Charge Carrier
Students will hear a crackle, feel a shock and see a spark.
Wrap-Up
Lightning
6–8
LESSON PLAN 1
What Is Lightning?
Materials
Ask students to explain what they saw, heard and felt
in terms of charges while using the electrophorus.
Analysis of You’re the Scientist: The Charge Carrier
• When the foam plate adds electrons, it becomes negatively
charged.
• The surrounding air and the insulating foam allow the pan to
retain its neutral charge because the electrons cannot leave the
pan.
• When you touch the pie pan, electrons flow from the pan and
onto your finger.
• The pan is neutral.
• The flow of electrons makes the spark. The air in the spark is
ionized and causes the light and sound.
• The shock is the sensation of electrons flowing through your
finger.
Linking Across the Curriculum
Science: Physical Science
• 1 “D” battery
• 1 holiday tree light with
exposed wire
• 1 piece of wire, 5 1/4” (13 cm)
long
• 2 paper clips
• String, twist tie, straw, stick,
pipe cleaner, paper clip,
paper, etc.
To understand lightning safety, it is important to understand
conduction and insulation.
Have the students use the following equipment to test the conductivity of
various materials. Using the “D” battery, the tree light, the wire, and the
two paper clips, have the students experiment to complete a circuit and illuminate the light bulb. Next, the students will break the circuit and place
various materials within the circuit to test which materials continue the
electric current and illuminate the bulb and which ones do not. Based on
the experiment, which items are insulators? Which are conductors? Are
there common characteristics for each type? Explain.
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Mathematics: Calculation and Problem Solving
When the students created their electrophorus using You’re the Scientist:
The Charge Carrier, the spark and crackle seemed simultaneous. Why do
we hear thunder many seconds after we see lightning? The sound of
thunder travels one mile in five seconds. Work together to create a class
lightning chart that illustrates the distance to the lightning stroke based on
the time between the flash and the bang. Discuss how this knowledge will
help them take steps to protect themselves and others in a timely way.
Lightning
6–8
Science: Physical Science
Challenge the students to search the Internet or science texts to
explain the relationship between lightning and thunder.
LESSON PLAN 1
What Is Lightning?
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“The Sticky Static Charge”
SET UP 20 minutes CONDUCT 30 minutes
Science: Physical Science, Chemistry and Inquiry
Lightning
6–8
LESSON PLAN 1
What Is Lightning?
Materials
For each team:
1. Have student teams use You’re the Scientist: The Sticky Static Charge to
discover even more about electric charges.
2. You can begin by telling the students the following: Since we often
demonstrate static electricity by rubbing balloons on cloth or feet across
carpeting, many students have the impression that friction produces static
electricity. Actually, contact between dissimilar insulating materials,
especially if forcibly separated (tape from table; tape from tape), causes a
separation of charges—“contact electrification.”
The physics behind static electricity is based on chemistry. Touching
objects together forms bonds between the atoms of the adjacent surfaces,
causing adhesion. If the surfaces are not alike, then bonding electrons
will stay with the atoms of one surface more than the other. One surface
has more negative electrons than positive protons—a negative charge; the
other surface has fewer negative electrons than positive protons—a positive charge.
• You’re the Scientist: The Sticky
Static Charge
Adapted from “Science Snacks” from the Exploratorium in San Francisco,
California. Visit http://exploratorium.edu/snacks/.
• Lightning Science (from the
Background)
3. As the students follow the steps on the activity sheets, guide them to
record their results in their scientific journals.
• Roll of plastic tape
• 2 small containers, such as 35mm film canisters
In class discussion, have students explain why the tapes pulled from the
table repel each other. What are the electrons doing? Why does the material of the table not matter in the repelling action of the tapes? Why does
the table’s material matter regarding whether or not the comb repels or
attracts these tapes?
• 4 flexible plastic straws
• Putty or modeling clay
• Wool cloth or plastic comb
Answers to You’re the Scientist: The Sticky Static Charge
3. The tapes repel each other when they have like charges.
5. The tapes attract each other when they have unlike charges.
6. The comb has a negative charge and will attract the positively charged
tape and repel the negatively charged tape.
7. Different types of tape and surfaces will “hold onto” or “let go of ”
electrons, creating a charge imbalance and assuming either a positive
or negative charge.
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Lightning
6–8
LESSON PLAN 1
What Is Lightning?
Analysis:
• Using a consistent type of tape and the same table, electrons will
transfer in the same manner causing a like charge imbalance and
making the tapes repel each other. The material of the table dictates
whether the tape gains or loses electrons; the comb will have a negative charge imbalance and will attract positively charged tape and
repel negatively charged tape.
• When you separate the two pieces of tape, one “grabs” electrons from
the other causing them to have unlike charges and, therefore, attract
each other. When you feel static in your comb, it is actually the electrons moving onto the comb from your hair. The plastic comb
becomes negatively charged. Since you know that the comb has a
negative imbalance, you can label the tapes easily. (Remember, a
charged object may attract a neutral object, so do not label objects by
attraction only. Objects will repel each other only if they both have the
same charge.)
Wrap-Up
As a class, have the students review their work with You’re the
Scientist: The Charge Carrier and You’re the Scientist: The
Sticky Static Charge by demonstrating their apparatus and experimental
results. Make sure they understand the concepts—
• Positive and negative charges
• Static electricity
• Spark
• Holding a charge
How do these concepts relate to lightning? Have the students use
the information in the Lightning Science section in the
Background to this module to illustrate ways that their experiments and demonstrations are
relevant to the negative and positive charges involved in lightning formation.
Home Connection
Try experimenting with an electric charge at home. What
happens if you rub a balloon on your hair or across the rug? Can
the balloon stick to the wall? For how long? Shuffle your feet as you cross
a carpeted floor. If you reach out and touch something metal, what
happens? Explain. If the weather is cold and you are outside wearing a
woolen stocking cap, what will happen when you come inside and pull off
the hat? Explain. Ask students to share with their families what they have
learned about static electricity, using the balloon, hat or carpet to demonstrate.
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You’re the Scientist:
The Charge Carrier
Page 1 of 1
Name ________________________________________________________________________
Directions: Early studies of lightning are at the base of our
current knowledge of electricity. You are a scientist who
will investigate electric charges by making an electrophorus (elec-TRÄ-for-us; Greek for “charge carrier”).
Materials:
• Foam dinner plate
• Wool cloth
• Disposable aluminum pie pan
• Foam cup
• Masking tape
Foam cup
aluminum
pie pan
Foam plate
wool cloth
Procedure:
1. Tape the cup, upside down, to the inside center of the
aluminum pie pan.
2. Turn the foam plate upside down and rub it with a wool cloth for about a minute.
Then, charge the pie pan in the following manner:
3. Place the pie pan directly on top of the charged foam plate, with the cup sticking
up like a handle.
4. Quickly touch the pie pan with your finger.
What do you hear?
What do you feel?
5. Using the insulating foam cup as a handle, lift the pie pan.
What do you see?
6. Darken the room. Then, discharge the pie pan by touching it with your finger.
What do you hear?
What do you feel?
What do you see?
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You’re the Scientist:
The Charge Carrier
Page 2 of 2
7. Repeat the experiment. How can you make the largest spark?
Analysis:
What is the charge of the foam plate once it attracts electrons from the wool?
What is the insulator in this experiment? Why is it important to use an insulator?
What happens to the charged pie pan when you touch it?
What charge does the pie pan carry?
What causes the spark of light and sound?
What are you actually feeling when the “shock” flows through your finger?
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YOU’RE THE SCIENTIST: THE CHARGE CARRIER
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You’re the Scientist:
The Sticky Static Charge
Page 1 of 2
Name ________________________________________________________________________
Directions: Static electricity demonstrates the flow of
electrons between atoms. You are a scientist who will
investigate electric charges by making an electroscope.
Materials:
• Roll of plastic tape
• 2 small containers, such as 35-mm film canisters
• 4 flexible plastic straws
• Putty or modeling clay
• Wool cloth or plastic comb
Procedure:
1. Fill each film canister half full of putty or clay.
2. Press the long end of 2 straws into each canister and bend the flexible lengths to
form horizontal “arms” facing in opposite directions. Be sure that the straws are
all the same height.
3. Pull 2 pieces of 4-inch (10-centimeter) lengths of tape from the roll and stick them to
the table, folding one edge to act as a “handle.” Quickly pull each piece of tape from
the table and lay one over the arm of a straw in one canister and the other over the
arm of a straw in the other canister. Allow the length of the tape to hang down about
2 inches (5 centimeters) on either side of the straw. Move the
canisters so that the taped straws are facing each other, about 6 inches
(15 centimeters) apart. As you move them closer together, what
happens? Why do they repel each other?
4. Pull 2 more 4-inch (10-centimeter) lengths of tape from the roll and stick the length
of one tape against the nonadhesive side of the other. Quickly pull them apart and
hang them on the other 2 straw arms.
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You’re the Scientist:
The Sticky Static Charge
Page 2 of 2
5. Move the canisters so that these tapes are facing each other. As you move
them closer together, what happens? Why do they attract each other?
6. Run the comb through your hair several times and then hold it near the dangling
tapes. What happens? Why does the comb repel the tape whose smooth side
was attached to the sticky side of the other tape? Why does it attract the
other piece of tape? How does it react to the tapes that were pulled from
the table? (Note: Depending on the surface of the table, the comb will
attract or repel these tapes.)
7. Experiment with other types of tape and other surfaces to discover more about
positive and negative charges.
Analysis:
Can you explain why the tapes pulled from the table repel each other based on
electrons? Why would the material of the table not matter as far as whether or not the
tapes repel each other? Why does the material of the table matter as far as whether or
not the comb repels or attracts these tapes?
Can you explain why the two tapes pulled from each other attract each other based on
electrons? Since a plastic comb pulled through your hair becomes negatively charged,
can you explain the static you feel in your comb? Draw your demonstration and label
each piece of tape as positive or negative.
Use your electroscope to test the charge of other objects. Note: The charge will “leak”
off into the air, so you may need to recharge the tape every few minutes.
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YOU’RE THE SCIENTIST: THE STICKY STATIC CHARGE
Masters of Disaster® Lightning, Lightning Science, Lesson Plan 1/What Is Lightning?
Copyright 2007 The American National Red Cross