This page links to five lesson plans in static electricity for beginning learners.  Designed for easy set-up, the lessons are intended to help beginners understand charge, electrostatic induction, and how transfer of electrons occurs.  (Open Website)

This lesson plan for beginners includes a creative update of the "Kissing Balloon", plus  three activities designed to enhance student understanding of electric charge, electron transfer, and polarization.  Try teaming it with Chasing Cheerios below.  (Open Website)

A Cheerio is suspended from a string and brought in contact with a charged plastic ruler, then neutralized by touching it.  This lesson illustrates both induction and conduction.  A second activity is included, with a printable student data sheet and reference materials.  (Open Website)

Using neon bulbs as a "test charge" for a current or for an electric field. this is a description for a lesson plan or activity.  (Open Website)

The "snacks" are scaled-down versions of exhibits relating to electricity at the Exploratorium museum.  Find activities related to electrostatics, charge, force and field potential, and circuits.  (Open Website)

Help your students build a conceptual framework with this comprehensive set of simulations and videos that model electrostatic processes. Each visualization is supported with a rich collection of related lecture notes and homework questions, all available for free. Highly recommended.  (Open Website)

This is a wonderful collection of materials on the scientific works of Benjamin Franklin, integrating historical background with descriptions of the actual lab experiments. The lab guide explains how to set up identical (or very similar) experiments in the classroom and provides video how-to's for several lessons.  (Open Website)

This website offers 15 lecture demonstrations designed to promote the process of inquiry as students discover laws of electrostatics.  Items range from capicitors to an inexpensive moving charge sensor.  (Open Website)

This free textbook resource was created by a veteran professor who blends written materials from "lectures that worked" with calculus-based problems and solutions.  The first two chapters deal with electrostatic phenomena.  (Open Website)

Common misconceptions about the topic of electrostatics are fully explored in this resource for both teachers and learners.  The author debunks more than a dozen myths as he offers comprehensive explanations of related phenomena.  (Open Website)

This NASA resource is a complete "primer" on the subject of lightning.  It includes an easily understood description of the lightning discharge process, modern data collection,and a brief history of the scientific study of lightning.  (Open Website)

This animation will help your students visualize the process of induction. It was developed by the author of The Physics Classroom tutorials for high school physics.  (Open Website)

This tutorial/animation goes into greater depth to explain and illustrate the process of induction.  (Open Website)

This is a teacher-made electrostatic quiz not meant to be fully definitive, but as an example. It is a short answer quiz.  (Open Website)

Looking for a truly interactive lesson on electric field? This package was developed by an award-winning high school teacher to accompany the PhET simulation Electric Field Hockey. Students place electric charges on a simulated ice field, then use their understanding of charge interaction to guide a hockey puck into a goal. The lesson integrates the game with free-body diagrams and vector addition.  (Open Website)

This outstanding resource integrates Java-based models of electrostatics with standards-based lesson plans and student worksheets. Your students will have fun moving charges around to investigate interaction of charged particles and watch as electric field lines are generated. The worksheets offer them structured guidance.  (Open Website)

The Exploratorium "snacks" are miniature versions of popular exhibits at the museum, all do-able with inexpensive materials. For electrostatics, click on "Charge and Carry", "Electroscope", and "Holding Charge".  (Open Website)

In this game-like environment, students  place positive and negative charges on a simulated ice field.  Getting the puck into the goal can be easy or complicated, depending upon the charge interaction.  (Open Website)

We can't see an electric field. It helps students to have a pictorial tool to visualize it as a region of space. This simulation lets them explore both the vector field concept and the field line model. Click anywhere within the field and a field line is automatically drawn. Color-coded vectors surround each charge to show the strength of field. Sign can be changed to view both attraction and repulsion.  (Open Website)

Visualizing electric field lines helps the student reinforce and comprehend the rules behind them.   With a mouse click, you can toggle between positive and negative charges, observing how this changes the direction of the field lines.  (Open Website)

How is electric field created and how does it come to fill up space? This animation from MIT's TEAL Physics Project starts with two opposite point charges being separated to form a classic electric dipole field configuration. It will help students see that electric fields do not appear instantly in space when there is unbalanced charge. They propagate outward from a source in a predictable way.  (Open Website)

This 3D interactive Java simulation lets students explore how a dipole pattern arises as they move an "observation point" around two equal and opposite charges. By allowing them to see the field from a variety of reference points, they can visualize how each charge contributes to the resultant field.  (Open Website)

An outstanding, yet simple, simulation to help students visualize electric force as a vector with magnitude and direction. It features two particles with opposite charge. Change the position and magnitude of either charge and watch the electric field respond. The field can be viewed as "grass seeds", electric potential lines, or vector field.  (Open Website)

Understanding electric field can be easier if students start with a 1-D representation. This excellent simulation models the electric field at various points along a line. For a very simple version, use only one test charge and one charged particle. For a somewhat more challenging activity, add a second charged particle. Also contains a student worksheet specifically for use with this simulation.  (Open Website)

Resource, suport and help with electrostatics.  (Open Website)

This site is a great content source for teachers that explains electric fields and even gives an assessment at the end.  (Open Website)

In this free resource, topics are connected in a well-organized concept map.  One click takes the teacher from electric field to related topics such as Gauss' Law, capacitance, and calculations related to force and field potential.  (Open Website)

This chapter in an online educators' guide is devoted to a conceptual exploration of electric field.  It is framed as a side-by-side comparison of electrostatics and gravity, which helps beginners gain understanding of how charge interaction is described and calculated in physics.  (Open Website)

This is a multiple choice traditional online quiz (with hints) for electric fields.  (Open Website)

A lesson plan for electrostastics based on Florida state standards (but similar to national and other state standards).  (Open Website)

Definitions, explanations and applications of the inverse square law to electrostatics forces  (Open Website)

An outstanding collection of Easy Java Simulation models for electrostatics. Students can move charges around to see the force, observe the field generated, and observe the motion of test particles in electric fields. Included are student worksheets for each simulation.  (Open Website)

An outstanding, yet simple, simulation to help students visualize electric force as a vector with magnitude and direction. It features two particles with opposite charge. Change the position and magnitude of either charge and watch the electric field respond. The field can be viewed as "grass seeds", electric potential lines, or vector field.  (Open Website)

In this Java simulation, your students play with a replication of Coulomb's historic torsion balance -- a device used to measure electric force between charges. Coulomb's methodical measuring laid the foundation for Coulomb's Law, a fundamental principle of electricity and magnetism.  (Open Website)

Many students have difficulty understanding the interactions that cause an electric force between charges. It helps if they begin their investigation with a very simple 1-D representation of the electric force that one particle exerts on another. The user sets the amount of charge so that the particles can either attract or repel; then vector arrows appear to show the amount of force on each particle. One particle can be moved left or right along the line to see the effect of distance on the force. With one click, students can see a graph of the electric force as a function of position.  (Open Website)

This is a wonderful collection of materials on the scientific works of Benjamin Franklin, integrating historical background with descriptions of the actual lab experiments. The lab guide explains how to set up identical (or very similar) experiments in the classroom and provides video how-to's for several lessons.  (Open Website)

This web page illustrates the concept of work against an electric force using examples of the Van de Graaff generator and lightning.  (Open Website)

In this free resource, topics are connected in a well-organized concept map.  This section gives a concise, yet thorough explanation of Coulomb's Law and how it it is used to determine the electric force between charges.  (Open Website)

This interactive tutorial, part of The Physics Classroom, does a first-rate job of explaining the concepts underlying Coulomb's Law.  (Open Website)

This short biography on Charles-Augustin de Coulomb (1736-1806) gives background on the pioneer's work, which resulted in the fundamental physics law named after him. Coulomb's Law states: the electric force between charged objects inversely depends upon the distance between the objects. This tutorial helps students understand this relationship.  (Open Website)

This lesson plan for the teacher of beginning  high school physics and/or physical science provides directions for making a simple electroscope and updates the classic "kissing balloon" activity with creative additions.  Included are printable student data sheets.  (Open Website)

The classic demonstration of charging an aluminum pie plate by induction is depicted in this animation, with detailed text to explain grounding and separation of charge.  (Open Website)

This item gives step-by-step animated depictions of charge interations when a balloon is brought near a charge detecting device.  (Open Website)

This is one of the best simulations we've seen to illustrate what happens at the particle level inside the two plates of a parallel capacitor. Students can set the number and magnitude of charges within each capacitor, then watch the charges distribute themselves along the outer edges of their enclosures. A great visualization of the Coulomb force in action.  (Open Website)

In this free resource, topics are connected in a well-organized concept map.  One click takes the teacher from capacitors to related topics such as dielectrics and circuits.  (Open Website)

This resource blends text with interactive java simulations to provide an excellent overview of the topic of capacitance.  It includes descriptions of how electric capacitors work and introduces simple calculations.  (Open Website)

Capacitors are electrical devices designed to store electric charge.  In this interactive java tutorial, students explore factors affecting capacitance and gain understanding of how   it is related to electrostatic force field.  (Open Website)

The Exploratorium "snacks" are miniature versions of popular exhibits at the museum, all do-able with inexpensive materials. For electrostatics, click on "Charge and Carry", "Electroscope", and "Holding Charge".  (Open Website)

A neon bulb is an object that can be lighted either by electric current or by static electricity.  This creative lesson, which requires no math,  helps students form an understanding of electron transfer.  Included is a printable student data sheet.  (Open Website)

An exceptional internet-based module that blends computer modeling with traditional hands-on labs. The introductory video is guaranteed to "spark" attention: a car catches on fire during refueling. The driving questions for students to investigate: what caused the fire and how can we use a knowledge of electrostatics to prevent these accidents? (Developed by UC-Berkeley.)  (Open Website)

This animation illustrates the effect when a negatively-charged balloon is brought near two neutral conducting spheres.  (Open Website)

This site has all the information needed to understand the operation and maintenance of Van de Graaff generators.  The author includes helpful hints for classroom demonstrations.  (Open Website)

In this game-like environment, students  place positive and negative charges on a simulated ice field.  Getting the puck into the goal can be easy or complicated, depending upon the charge interaction.  (Open Website)

This simple and effective Quicktime video shows a model of a negatively-charged particle being pulled in by the positively-charged sphere of a van de Graaff generator.  Although the particle is not touching the generator, they are in direct contact with a medium existing between them. We recommend viewing this item in stepped motion.  (Open Website)

This Quicktime video accompanies the item directly above. In this model, a positively-charged particle is shown being repelled by the positively-charged sphere of the van de Graaff generator. Both videos promote understanding of the Coulomb force by showing the electric field existing between the charges.  (Open Website)

An outstanding, yet simple, simulation to help students visualize electric force as a vector with magnitude and direction. It features two particles with opposite charge. Change the position and magnitude of either charge and watch the electric field respond. The field can be viewed as "grass seeds", electric potential lines, or vector field.  (Open Website)

This is a great site to use as a teacher for content support of a lesson plan on electric charge.  (Open Website)

This NASA resource is a complete "primer" on the subject of lightning.  It includes an easily understood description of the lightning discharge process, modern data collection,and a brief history of the scientific study of lightning.  (Open Website)

This item explores electrostatic forces that cause lightning.  It includes a nine-minute related video and an "Ask The Expert" question-answer set.  (Open Website)

Franklin's second letter about transfer of electrical fluid in Leyden jars is accompanied by descriptions for setting up the experiments in a classroom.  (Open Website)

This item highlights Benjamin Franklin's historic first letter about points and Leyden jar experiments, describing how to set up the labs in the classroom.  (Open Website)

This item integrates a third historic Franklin letter with directions on how to construct a flat-plate capacitor and an electrostatic motor.  (Open Website)

Franklin's theory of atmospheric electrification is highlighted, with diagrams and annotations to enhance student understanding.  (Open Website)

This resource takes learners on a journey through history with primary source historical documents (written by Franklin) about his lightning rod experiments.  It includes a translation of a 1752 experiment conducted in France.  It is intended for integration with the item directly above.  (Open Website)

This web page integrates historic text and drawings with annotations and ideas for applying Franklin's theory of electrostatic induction in labs designed for the modern high school science classroom.  It includes a 1750 letter by Franklin describing an accident resulting in his own near-electrocution.  (Open Website)

This web site contains materials regarding the scientific work of Benjamin Franklin, and lab exercises related to experiments he performed. Writings and historical observations are integrated with lab descriptions to give students a better insight into his work.  (Open Website)

A history and explanation of electrostatics charge and force  (Open Website)

Exploring static electricity using simple household items.  (Open Website)

Using balloons to explore static electricity for the early grades.  (Open Website)

A history of how static electricity has been explored.  (Open Website)

Can playing a game assess understanding of static electricity?  (Open Website)

How and why to assess learning in science  (Open Website)

This Java simulation from MIT is one of our top choices to model the process of electrostatic induction. It breaks the process down into steps: charge separation within the conductor, grounding of charge, and ungrounding. It gives students an especially rich experience, as they can observe the changing electric field as "grass seeds", electric potential lines, or in a 3D view.  (Open Website)

Electrostatic induction is a redistribution of electrical charge in an object. Induction is one way to charge an object (friction or rubbing is another way). The induction process can be confusing to students, and this Physics Classroom tutorial does a terrific job of making it clear.  (Open Website)