Rub the yellow balloon on the sweater until you get all of the blue negative charges on the balloon. When you rub two things together and there is a transfer of negative charge, this charge distribution is called friction. Now, drag the balloon in between the wall and the sweater. Then release the balloon to see what happens. Explain what happened and why.

Answer 1

When the yellow balloon is rubbed on the sweater, it gains negative charges from the sweater. This process is known as friction. The rubbing causes the transfer of electrons between the two objects, where the sweater loses some of its negative charges and the balloon gains them.

After rubbing, the balloon becomes negatively charged, while the wall and the surrounding air will have an overall neutral charge. When the charged balloon is brought close to the wall, the opposite charges between the balloon and the wall will attract each other. The negative charges on the balloon will be attracted to the positive charges on the wall, causing the balloon to stick to the wall.

When the balloon is released, it remains stuck to the wall for a while due to the attractive forces between the opposite charges. However, eventually, the charges on the balloon will dissipate and become neutral again as they spread out and mix with the charges in the surrounding air. As the charges on the balloon become neutral, the attractive force between the balloon and the wall decreases, and the balloon will fall off from the wall.

In summary, the rubbing of the balloon on the sweater leads to a buildup of negative charges on the balloon, causing it to stick to the wall due to the attractive forces between opposite charges.