Question

Martha rubs a balloon against her hair. She brings the balloon close to an empty soda can which is lying on its side. The soda can rolls towards the balloon. Explain why this happens, using concepts of electrostatics. Your answer should be specific and detailed; you should include the appropriate scientific terms to describe the phenomenon. Draw diagrams as needed.

Answer 1

Whenever we run balloon against our hair, heat is generated due to frictional losses. Since hair has a lower excitation potential as compared to balloon, thus hair looses electrons to the balloon surface and hence the balloon becomes negatively charged. This build up of negative charge on the balloon is termed as static electricity.

Now when this negatively charged balloon is brought near a soda can which is assumed to be empty (we must acknowledge that the empty soda can usually posses a positive charge), the soda can rolls towards the balloon because opposite charges attarct each other due to coloumbic forces of attraction.

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