How to Make an Electroscope Easily

by AH Electronics

161K2131

Intro: How to Make an Electroscope Easily

electroscope.normally made with thin gold plates and glass jar,rare for normal people and costly enough for a student to buy or not may be.but now i will show you how to make one from ordinary materials at cheap rate.but what is an electroscope?its a type of instrument used to measure electrical charge.it is a great tool for using and simple to operate tool for any lab.

if you like this project visit my profile:https://www.instructables.com/member/argha%20halder/ for more science projects.so lets start.

oh if any mistake forgive and help me correct.

STEP 1: The Things You Will Need

the things needed can all be found at house.the things you will need are:
1)plastic or glass jar or cup that are transparent.(must be transparent)
2)aluminium foil small piece is enough.
3)1 paper clip.
4)cardboard piece small one.
5)a scissor
6)insulative tape or any tape 
7)pencil(optional)

STEP 2:

firstly take the paper clip and straighten it.if there is any insulation on it remove it using scissors.then bend one end of the paper clip into a shape like 'U'.

STEP 3:

now take the cardboard.unscrew the cap of the glass ar if any and then put its opening on the cardboard.using pencil mark the outline of the opening of the jar.now cut it using scissors.

STEP 4:

now mark the center of the cardboard circle.using a scissor make a small hole.

STEP 5:

now take the piece of aluminium foil and draw a small leave structure with fat as a penny lower end and on the upper end make it thinner.now cut two of these.make a hole at the top of both foils.

STEP 6: Now Making the Collector

now take the remaining aluminium foil and crumble and scrumble it into a nice round shape.

STEP 7: This an Important Step!

first take the paperclip that we bent and prepared.pass the unbent end of the paper clip through the hole in the cardboard.now pass it halfway.now add some insulative tape on the paper clip and cardboard to stick them parmanently.now take scrumbled aluminium foil ball and poke the unbend end of the paper clip in it.now take the two small aluminium foil leaves and enter it to the paper clips u bend part through the holes in the foil.
you are almost done.

STEP 8: Last Step for Making

now finally take the alluminium containing cardboard and put it on the mouth of the jar and tape it there.done!

STEP 9: Using Manual

for using it first you have to accumulate electrical charge.first take a comb and brush your hair.after that take the comb and then move it close to the aluminium ball and you will see that the two aluminium leaves remove apart.you can use many ways to charge such as,rub a baloon to a hair and take the baloon near the electroscope.or rub a wool cloth to glass and bring the glass near the electroscope.again take a aluminium foil.here's a video of mine.

STEP 10: How Does It Work?

 electricity is produced when electrons move from one place to other.in an atom there are three parts proton,neutron,electron.proton is positive and electron is negative .when something is rubbed then the electrons of a thing transfers to the other thing making that thing negatively charged. now if it is brought near a conductor like our aluminium foil then the charge conducts to that metal.so in this the charge goes to the end at aluminium leaves making them negatively charge.like magnets opposite charges attract each other and same charges repel each other and here the aluminium leaves are same charged and so they repel each other and thats how it shows the existence of charge.

STEP 11: How to Make It More Perfect?

to make it more perfect looking and working use stiff light aluminium foil and make the collector of a big aluminium foil role.or use a good holder instead of paper clip.

and the thing that would best work is "use you brain and improve it to next level!".

STEP 12: Troubleshooting

if your electroscope dont work then check:

1)whether you have accumulated any charge or just sent them to ground.  

2)important!it would not work well in humid day(cause charge will conduct away through the moisture of air

3)make sure the aluminium does not have paper type non conductive layers on it.


my mother tongue is bangla and so if any mistake in english help me correct.have a nice day .bye!

22 Comments

rinumajumder1 3 years ago

Thanks for the aluminium foil tip! You are a lifesaver

Alishashukla200 5 years ago

I bought a copper wire... but is so thin what should i do?

naina.lath 9 years ago

I did exactly how you said but my electroscope is not working!! please help!

AH Electronics 9 years ago

There might be a few things that could have gone wrong in your project while testing the electroscope what did you use? If you are using a comb make sure to rub it well on you r hair to produce a charge. Also make sure you are testing it on a humid day. The second thing is make sure the paper clip you are using is not insulated. If you can, then post a picture of your electroscope, then I might get a clue of any mistakes. Hope it helps.

Vidhya bookworm 5 years ago

Instead of a paper clip,a copper wire can be used with insulation removed in the ends.

AbhinavC12 6 years ago

Hand aluminum leaf like this that shining surface should face each other.

JenADAM 8 years ago

We will try to make this later today. Thanks for taking the time to put together instructions!

JenADAM 8 years ago

Worked well, especially after sitting over night!

AH Electronics 9 years ago

You could use anything that conducts electricity. So you could use staple, wire and anything that might conduct electricity. Hope it helps :)

RebeccaFTW 9 years ago

I am making one right now!!! Looks awesome!

Rajat Uppal 10 years ago

nice.........again excellent work.......congratulations as you are in foreign.........
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