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Unit 10: Electricity Page 13
Depending on the type of atom electrons, and now has a negative
they are a part of, they are quite charge. Try the following
willing to jump ship and go experiment to create a temporary
somewhere else. The way to get charge on a wall: bring the balloon
them to jump ship is to rub things close to the wall until it sticks.
together. Let’s play with this a bit
and see if we can make it more Opposite charges attract right? So,
clear. is the entire wall now an opposite
charge from the balloon? No. In
Temporary Charge fact, the wall is not charged at all.
It is neutral. So why did the
We’ve already talked about this balloon stick to it?
temporary charge thing, where
objects that are electrically The balloon is negatively charged.
charged can create a temporary It created a temporary positive
charge on another object. Let’s charge when it got close to the
take some time to look at that wall. As the balloon gets closer to
now. the wall, it repels the electrons in
the wall. The negatively charged
Remember, in static electricity, electrons in the wall are repelled
electrons are negatively charged from the negatively charged
and they can move from one object electrons in the balloon.
to another. This movement of
electrons can create a positive Since the electrons are repelled,
charge (if something has too few what is left behind? Positive
electrons) or a negative charge (if charges. The section of wall that
something has too many has had its electrons repelled is
electrons). It turns out that now left positively charged. The
electrons will also move around negatively charged balloon will now
inside an object without necessarily “stick” to the positively charged
leaving the object. When this wall. The wall is temporarily
happens the object is said to have charged because once you move
a temporary charge. the balloon away, the electrons will
go back to where they were and
Blow up a balloon. If there will no longer be a charge on
you rub a balloon on that part of the wall.
your head, the
balloon is now filled This is why plastic wrap, styrofoam
up with extra packing popcorn, and socks right
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