batteries

so this weekend, my cousins came over for a little party. While my cousins were at my house, they played halo 3 on the xbox 360 with my brother. they were having a lot of fun when suddenly one of my cousin's controller's went "boop" and the screen said that the controller was not connected to the xbox console any longer. This was because the batteries were dead and needed to be changed.

This got me thinking about physics. I looked at all the text on the battery (there is a LOT of text, apparently. I was shocked at how much, and I cannot believe that i never noticed the plentiful amount of text on a battery before) and it said that the AA battery has 1.5 volts, which means the electric potential difference is 1.5 volts. Of course, I noticed the plus and minus signs a long time ago, which are on opposite sides, indicating the higher potential energy and lower potential energy.

Batteries are so scientific :).

caution! beware of static electricity (at the gas pump)

Okay, so yesterday, my parents and I were in the same car doing errands (in the first time in forever, since I can drive myself now). We dropped my brother off at this school event, and then my parents went to Costco for some cheap gas (because everyone just absolutely hates buying gas, right?) When I was talking to my dad about the age when one can finally pump gas into a car, I noticed something I had never noticed before (because I was never looking for it before). There appeared to be a WARNING sign on the gas pump that I recall talking about in Physics just that week (or the week before, I cannot remember. All I can remember is that I could recall talking about it).

I was shocked (lol) by the dangers of static electricity when near a gas pump. Apparently, just accumulating static electricity from getting back into the car and gaining electrons from friction with the seat is dangerous! It could cause an explosion of sorts. And then there's the entire thing about only filling a container if its placed on the ground so that the container is "grounded" and therefore any extra electrons added to the system would harmlessly flow into the ground and stay relatively neutral. There are many dangers at a gas station, so beware for now on, yes?

walking around on a rug

Today, I was walking around the mall with my brother and sister to grab a bite to eat. When I'm lazy, I tend to drag my feet when walking. Suddenly, my brother bumped into and we both felt a shock! What could it be other than static electricity! Because the mall is air-conditioned, the air is less humid and there is more likely for static electricity to occur in an environment that has less water molecules in the air. Dragging my feet on the carpet at the mall caused friction and my body gained electrons! With all these factors in the mall, how could one NOT shock someone at the mall? After the first shock, my brother and I started to see who could shock the other person more. Unfortunately, we had to leave the mall, and outside we couldn't shock each other. I guess we couldn't build up static electricity outside because it was more humid. Shocking, isn't it?