How do photocopies and laser printers use static

How do photocopies and laser printers use static electricity to make copies?

How does a photocopier work? • When you photos copy something a big bright light scans the document and it makes an electrical shadow of the document so it knows what to copy. The machine takes the electrical shadow and covers it in powdered ink which forms an inked image. The machine takes in a piece of paper with a strong electrical charge and that piece of paper is the copy. When it is close to the end of the machine it passes by two hot rollers and the roller use the heat to fuse the powdered ink onto the paper permanently. The paper comes out of the machine and it’s still warm from the rollers.

How does a laser printer work? • When you print a paragraph or picture you’re computer sends a stream of data to your printer. An electronic circuit figures out all of the data and makes it look like what it’s sposed to look. It makes a laser beam scan that moves back and forth across the printer and builds up a pattern of static electricity. The static electricity attracts onto the page with an kind of powdered ink called toner.

How does static electricity work in a photocopier? • When the powdered ink is added it has all electrical charge so that it sticks to the electrical shadow forming an inked image , just like a balloon sticking to the wall. When the machine brings in the charged piece of paper all of the powdered ink is attracted to it so it forms the copy.

• The static electricity is used to keep the ink on the page while it is printing out and if the electricity was not there the ink would just spray all around over you’re paper. It builds up the electricity while it moves and prints the stuff out.