What are some household items capable of gaining an electric charge?

AI Thread Summary
Household items capable of gaining an electric charge include cellophane, balloons, pop cans, plastic wrap, paper, hair, glass, and wool. The lab focuses on creating an electrostatic series by rubbing a reference material, like cellophane or a balloon, with wool to observe charge interactions. Polymers tend to acquire a negative charge when rubbed with wool, allowing for the classification of other materials as electropositive or electronegative based on their reactions. The discussion highlights the importance of triboelectricity in understanding these charge interactions. Exploring additional materials can enhance the lab's findings on electrostatic properties.
ctamasi
Messages
26
Reaction score
0
Hey. I'm just doing a lab an electrostatics and my coursebook suggests a number of materials to use, however, I'm not really getting clear reactions with them.

The purpose of the lab is to create an electrostatic series. I first have to establish a reference material; I chose cellophane or a balloon because of their weight and therefore ease of noticing a reaction.

Then I have to rub the reference material in wool, and since polymers rubbed in wool acquire a negative charge, therefore are more electronegative than wool, I can determine the remainder of materials as being electropositive or electronegative by the level of attraction or repulsion experienced when another material is brough close to the reference material.

The best materials I've found are pop cans, balloons and plastic wrap. What are some other good materials to use?

Thanks a lot.
 
Physics news on Phys.org
paper, hair, glass, wool ... look up triboelectricity.
 
Awesome! Thanks so much, I'll look that up.
 

Thread 'Struggling to understand the concept of this question (ice cube in water optics question)'

TL;DR Summary: I came across this question from a Sri Lankan A-level textbook. Question - An ice cube with a length of 10 cm is immersed in water at 0 °C. An observer observes the ice cube from the water, and it seems to be 7.75 cm long. If the refractive index of water is 4/3, find the height of the ice cube immersed in the water. I could not understand how the apparent height of the ice cube in the water depends on the height of the ice cube immersed in the water. Does anyone have an...
View full post »

Thread 'Rolling without slipping on a curved surface'

Kindly see the attached pdf. My attempt to solve it, is in it. I'm wondering if my solution is right. My idea is this: At any point of time, the ball may be assumed to be at an incline which is at an angle of θ(kindly see both the pics in the pdf file). The value of θ will continuously change and so will the value of friction. I'm not able to figure out, why my solution is wrong, if it is wrong .
View full post »

Similar threads

Establishing an Electrostatic Series: My Confusion
Replies
2
Views
4K
Simple Electrostatics Lab: Clarification
Replies
12
Views
3K

Hot Threads

Recent Insights

Back
Top