Staticky Hair

Many times, especially during the winter, you will find your hair standing on end due to "static electricity". Even though we usually associate this phenomenon with rubbing a balloon on your head to create static, I have found that this also occurs on airplanes or while wearing a winter hat. Often when moving after leaning back on an airplane headrest or taking off a winter hat, my hair will stick to the previously mentioned surface. This is due to the opposite charges of my hair and the object. When two objects are rubbed together, they can become charged as electrons move from one object to the other. In the situation with hair, electrons probably move out of the chair or hat, making it positively charged with excess protons, and into my hair giving it an excess of electrons and making it negatively charged. Since the two objects are then oppositely charged, they attract, sticking together as I try to pull them apart. Throughout this process, charged is conserved as electrons are transferred between objects and not lost.