Question

Why does not a steel spoon get charged on rubbing with polythene or woolen cloth?
(A) Because steel is a poor conductor.
(B) Because steel is a good conductor.
(C) Because steel has high density.
(D) Because a steel spoon is shiny.

Answer 1

Hint: When we rubbed the steel with polyether or woolen clothes, steel charged via the transfer electrons. Rubbing means transferring the electron from one material to other material. So the surface of steel is charged with rubbing but little amount of electric energy transfers through our hands as well as our body to the earth. So we can say in a short way, steel spoons will not be charged by the rubbing with the polythene or woolen clothes. Generally, steel is a good conductor of electricity because it is metal.

Complete answer: In static electricity is defined that some amount of electrons is stored into a body by rubbing with hair or clothes, such as comb and pen.
Take a pen or comb and rub it vigorously with a polythene’s piece and bring the pen close to each other then it acquires a small quantity of electric charge.
In ancient times, Greeks knew something at 600 B.C. that they amber named material rubbed with fur then it produced the light. You might have seen in the dark that polyester or woolen clothes rubbed with your hair during the take off of the clothes from the body, they produce the sparks and hear cracking sound. Further in 1752, An American Scientist Benjamin Franklin had tested like this in their time and also he was aware about it and he explained the relation between this electricity and sky lighting.

Note: This process of rubbing is also caused by sky lighting that occurs due to displacement of clouds. Such as, the clouds going to upward direction and rain going to downward direction, in which positive charge is present in the upper edge of the cloud and negative charge is present in the lower edge of the cloud, hence this process results in the sky lighting.