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Video Lessons

What Causes Lightning?

Summary

Grade Range
6th-8th
Group Size
2-3 students
Active Time
60 minutes
Total Time
60 minutes
Area of Science
Physics
Key Concepts
Static electricity, electric fields, electric charges, triboelectric effect
Credits
Svenja Lohner, PhD, Science Buddies Alumni
Video narration by Jennifer E Paz
Pricing
Free for a limited time thanks to individual donors
Video Lesson
Joseph Wright of Derby, A Philosopher Giving A Lecture at the Orrery, c. 1765, oil on canvas, 147 x 203 cm (Derby Museum and Art Gallery, Derby, England)
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Overview

Lightning is a powerful display of static electricity in nature. But what is static electricity? In this lesson, students will learn about static electricity and electric fields by building a device that can detect electrical charges, called an electroscope. They will use their electroscope to investigate how well different materials can build up electric charges by rubbing them against wool. During their experiments, students will be able to demonstrate how electric fields exert forces on objects close by.

Learning Objectives

Materials

Per group:

Per student:

Prep Work

  • Print out a worksheet for each student.
  • Select additional materials you want the students to test. Possible materials are wood, other plastic objects, glass, or rubber.
  • If you bought a spool of copper or brass wire, cut the wire into 12-inch pieces. One piece for each student group.
  • Note: This experiment works best in a dry environment. If it is too humid, the experiment won't work as well. Humidity in the air makes the air more conductive and able to absorb excess charges. As a result, objects won't hold static charges well in a humid environment. An ideal relative humidity for electrostatic buildup is below 40 percent. Between 40 and 60 percent, a charge buildup is still possible but at a significantly reduced level.

Engage (11 minutes)

In this video, students wonder about the nature of lightning and are introduced to static electricity and electric fields by looking into Benjamin Franklin's famous kite experiment.

Explore (44 minutes)

In this video, students will be guided through building an electroscope and using it to detect static electricity in various objects. As they experiment with electric charges, they will not only learn how an electroscope works but will also observe how electric fields can push and pull on objects in their surroundings.

Reflect (5 minutes)

This video will provide students with an answer to the lesson's guiding question, "What Causes lightning" as it explains how static electricity and lightning are connected.

NGSS Alignment

This lesson helps students prepare for these Next Generation Science Standards Performance Expectations:
  • MS-PS2-5. Conduct an investigation and evaluated the experimental design to provide evidence that fields exist between objects exerting forces on each other even though the objects are not in contact.
This lesson focuses on these aspects of NGSS Three Dimensional Learning:

Science & Engineering Practices
Planning and Carrying out Investigations. Planning and carrying out investigations to answer questions or test solutions to problems in 6-8 builds on K-5 experiences and progresses to include investigations that use multiple variables and provide evidence to support explanations or design solutions.

Conduct an investigation and evaluate the experimental design to produce data to serve as the basis for evidence that can meet the goals of the investigation.
Disciplinary Core Ideas
PS2.B: Types of Interactions. Forces that act at a distance (electric, magnetic, and gravitational) can be explained by fields that extend through space and can be mapped by their effect on a test object (a charged object, or a ball, respectively).
Crosscutting Concepts
Cause and Effect. Cause and effect relationships may be used to predict phenomena in natural or designed systems.

Assess

The student worksheet can be used to evaluate students' understanding of the activity and basic concepts.

Extensions

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Activities

Which Materials Conduct Electricity?
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Electricity powers many of the devices you use every day. Those devices are made up of circuits, ranging from very simple (like in a lamp with a single light bulb) to very complex (like in a computer). Try this project to build your own simple circuit and use it to test which common household materials conduct electricity. Read more

Project Guide

Electricity, Magnetism, & Electromagnetism Tutorial
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Project Resource
Introduction This resource provides an introduction to different topics in electricity and magnetism that you may find useful when doing background research for your Science Buddies projects. The information you will find here is sufficient for most of the projects on the Science Buddies website, but remember that there are entire books written about each topic, so there is much more to learn! We recommend reading the sections in order, but you can click on the links below to jump straight to a… Read more

Blog

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Use these free STEM lessons and activities to teach about electricity, electrodes, electrolytes, current, batteries, generators, and more. We all interact with electricity dozens of times a day. Every time we flip a switch to turn on a light, we use electricity. Every time we check a cell phone, open a refrigerator, or turn on a computer or TV, we are using something that depends upon electricity in the background. We use electricity without… Read more

Careers

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Materials scientists and engineers develop materials, like metals, ceramics, polymers, and composites, that other engineers need for their designs. Materials scientists and engineers think atomically (meaning they understand things at the nanoscale level), but they design microscopically (at the level of a microscope), and their materials are used macroscopically (at the level the eye can see). For example, they design materials that have special electrical properties, such as semiconductors and superconductors. Read more
Physicist
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Physicists observe and measure natural events seen on Earth and the universe and then develop theories to explain why those phenomena occur, just as Benjamin Franklin did for lightning. Their theories can then be used to bring people new technologies. Benjamin Franklin, for example, used his knowledge about electricity to invent the lightning rod. Read more
Electrician
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Electricians work with electricity every day. They bring electricity to our homes, schools, businesses, public spaces, and streets—lighting up our world, keeping the indoor temperature comfortable, and powering TVs, computers, and all sorts of machines that make life better. Electricians install and maintain the wiring and equipment that carries electricity, and they also fix electrical machines. Read more
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