Question

A balloon and a section of a wall both have neutral charges, as shown below. A student rubs his hair on the balloon, giving it a negative charge. How will the charge be arranged in the wall when it is placed near the negatively changed balloon? (The wall will have negative charges on the the side closer to the balloon; the wall will have it positive charges on the side closer to the balloon)
GPT-4o mini
When the negatively charged balloon is brought near the neutral wall, the charges within the wall will rearrange due to electrostatic induction. The side of the wall that is closest to the balloon will experience a repulsion of the negative charges (electrons) within the wall. As a result, the negative charges will move away from the side closer to the balloon, leaving behind a concentration of positive charges on that side.

Thus, the side of the wall closer to the negatively charged balloon will have an excess of positive charge, while the side of the wall farther away from the balloon will have a relative increase in negative charge. In summary, the arrangement of charges will be as follows:

- The side of the wall closer to the balloon will have a positive charge.
- The side of the wall farther from the balloon will have a negative charge.

This separation of charges creates an attractive force between the negatively charged balloon and the positively charged side of the wall.