There are two main ways for a charged object to become neutral: 1) by contact or grounding, where touching an object with the opposite charge neutralizes both, and 2) by sparking, which occurs when an object becomes so charged it can pull electrons over a distance. Lightning is a large-scale example of sparking that releases an electrical charge, with the bottoms of storm clouds becoming negatively charged and inducing a positive charge in the ground until electrons are forced between them.

1. Releasing Electrical Charges
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2. Releasing Electrical Charges
Electric
discharge is the
rapid transfer of
electrons from
one object to
another.
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3. Think. Pair. Share.
How many ways are there for a charged
object to become neutral again?
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4. Releasing Electrical Charges
There are 2 main ways to discharge an object:
1) Contact/grounding
2) Sparking
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5. Releasing Electrical Charges
1) By contact/grounding
Discharging by contact means touching a charged
object to an object with the opposite charge so
they may neutralize each other.
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6. Releasing Electrical Charges
1) By contact/grounding
Grounding a charged object will add or remove as
many electrons as required to make it neutral.
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7. Releasing Electrical Charges
2) Sparking.
A spark occurs when an object becomes so charged
that it is able to move or pull electrons over a
distance in order to become neutral. 7

8. Releasing Electrical Charges
OW!!
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9. Releasing Electrical Charges
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10. Releasing Electrical Charges
2) Sparking
Lightning is a large-scale example of releasing an
electrical charge via a spark.
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11. Releasing Electrical Charges
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12. Releasing Electrical Charges
2) Sparking
The bottoms of clouds become negatively charged
during a storm. The ground then becomes positively
charged by induced charge separation.
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13. Releasing Electrical Charges
2) Sparking
Eventually electrons are forced down from the sky into
the positively charged ground.
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14. Releasing Electrical Charges
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