Static Electricity and Balloons

Charged Up

Fruit Clock

Opposite charges attract…

Negative (-) charges are called electrons, while positive (+) charges are called protons.  When a negatively charged object (an object which has more electrons than protons) meets a positively charged object (an object which has more protons than electrons) they attract each other.

Therefore, when you rub a balloon on your hair the protons and the electrons mix, usually ending up with the balloon having more protons than electrons and your hair having more electrons than protons.  When this happens, static electricity is created, this means that your hair is attracted to the balloon so, your hair will follow the balloon wherever it goes (within a certain distance).

by Christiane and  Giulia S

Sticky Balloons??!

If you rub a balloon on your hair, the balloon becomes positively charged and the hair becomes negatively charged.

When charges are opposite, they attract, so your hair is attracted to the balloon. If you try to remove the balloon, some of your hair will stay attached to it.

The same thing happened when we rubbed a balloon on our hair and then we placed it on the ceiling. Because the balloon was positively charged, it attaches itself to the ceiling, which is not charged as it has both positive and negative charges.

by Ruby and Francesca

Why Does it Happen?

Static electricity is formed when you rub two things against each other, and one of them gets positively charged, the other one gets negatively charged.

An example is when you rub a balloon on your hair, or on your jumper. The balloon will lose electrons, so it has more positive protons than negative electrons and the jumper will pick up the negative electrons.

If you then try to put it near to a wall, the balloon will stick to the wall. This will happen because by rubbing the balloon we charged it, and even though the wall wasn't charged, it was attracted to the balloon.

In fact, when something is positively charged, it will repel something that is positively charged, but it will attract something that is negatively charged.  On the other hand if something is charged and something else isn't they will attract anyway.

by Livia
 

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