Question

Fran hangs three balloons from strings. She gives the first balloon a positive charge. She gives the second balloon a negative charge. She does not give the third balloon a charge.
Describe what will happen if Fran holds a rod with a positive charge near each balloon. Explain why each balloon reacts the way that it does.

Answer 1

Explanation: We are given three balloon carrying different charges: One having positive charge, one having negative charge and one having no charge.

When we bring positive rod near these three balloons, all of them behave differently.

According to the Coulomb's Law:

Like charges repel each other and unlike charges attract each other.

• When we bring positive rod towards the balloon having positive charge, the balloon will move away from the rod, because like charges repel each other.

• When we bring positive rod near negative balloon, the balloon will be attracted to the rod because unlike charges attract each other.

• But, when we bring positive rod towards the balloon having no charge, the charges will be induced in the balloon. Although the balloon is neutral in nature but it will still carry some +ve or -ve charges. So, when the positive rod is bought near neutral ball, the negative side of the balloon will get attracted towards the rod and positive side will be repelled. From this, we say that the rod has induced some charges in the balloon.