Why Does Your Hair Crackle When It Is Combed?

Missed me haven't you? Well, back here , so just keep a fire extinguisher by your side while you read because I'm gonna make your mind go kaboom!!

For hundreds of years, people thought that electricity was caused by friction,rubbing of two things against each other.you might think so too, from having combed your hair when it is very dry. In the sixteenth century, William Gilbert impressed Queen Elizabeth with this idea by showing that a certain kind of rod rubbed against fur could attract pieces of paper.

But electricity is not caused by the rubbing. First, you may think of atoms, the smallest particles of matter. You may read about water molecules. A water molecule has two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. Each atom has a ball in the middle. This ball is called the nucleus. Inside the nucleus are tiny bits called protons and neutrons. The nucleus is surrounded by even smaller bits, electrons, which go around it in circular paths. The illustrations shows the path of electrons in one atom.

When two substances come into contact, some of the electrons of one substance gather on the other. The larger the area of contact, the greater chance there is for an exchange of electrons. The more electrons a substance collects, the more charged it becomes.  

Insulators are good at collecting electrical charges and storing them up. Insulators, like glass or plastic, are substances that do not conduct electricity to flow. Once the charges are in, they cannot escape even if the insulator is separated from the substance it was rubbed against.

Dry hair is an insulator and when you comb it,  there is an exchange of electrons because your dry hair has shared so many electrons. The air is a fair conductor of electricity. The crackles and little sparks are signs of the flow of electricity through the air, just like the tiny jolts you receive when you wall across a rug and touch some thing like a doorknob. So, combing dry hair is like creating miniature thunderstorms with their charges of lightening. 

You can always get more by...staying tuned.

F.B : victor Ojo