You have just arrived at school on a very cold, dry day. You open your car door

Question

You have just arrived at school on a very cold, dry day. You open your car door and then slide across the cloth seat and step outside. You reach towards the metal car door handle and there is a spark an electrical discharge. Explain on the atomic level what happened to the metal door handle before the electrical discharge occurred. Note that your finger has not touched the metal handle but is nearby and the discharge has not yet occurred. Assume that your body is similar to a rubber rod and the cloth seat is like wool. (Draw a sketch and label any excess charges.)

Explanation / Answer

The car's body is made of metal which is a conductor. And the tyres are insulators. So, during the drive, the wind can remove the electrons from the surface of the metal and leaving positive charge behind. Now, the car cannot simply release the charge to the ground with the help of moisture. It needs a grounding. Though, you don't have any grounding except your body. So, when you touch the car body, you complete the circuit and act as a grounding wire. So, now the electrons from ground move from ground to your legs, your body and finally the metal of the car to neutralize this charge.

For the diagram, you can show the car with positive charge and flow of electrons from the ground to the metal surface for stabilization of that charge.

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