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The Uses of Electrostatic Charge.
What are the Uses of Electrostatic Charge?
Electrostatic charge
is used in paint spraying (see below)
insecticide
spraying,
inkjet printers, photocopiers
and the removal of pollution from industrial chimneys.
How is Electrostatic Charge used in Paint
Spraying?
Millions of cars are
made each year and the steel
car
bodies must all be painted to
prevent them from going
rusty.
The paint is sprayed onto the car
bodies and the
process is made more efficient by
using electrostatic charge.
The paint spray goes past
a high voltage positive
needle
as it leaves the spray
gun and the tiny droplets of paint
pick up a positive charge. They do this by losing negative
electrons.
It is only
the electrons which can move.
The car body is then given a
high voltage
negative charge
which
attracts
the positively charged paint droplets.
This improves efficiency in two ways.
1. The paint droplets
spread out more as they leave the
gun.
This happens because they all get the same positive
charge and so they all repel each other. This is better than
coming straight out of the gun as the paint will cover
a wider
area more evenly as shown in the picture
below.
The same thing happens with insecticide
crop
spraying.
2. The paint droplets are attracted to the negative
metal
car body, and so less paint will be wasted
by landing on the floor or the walls of the paint
shop.
Links
Electrostatic Charge
Revision Questions
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