Explain an activity to show that equal and opposite charges are produced during electricfication
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Suppose that you rubbed a balloon with a sample of animal fur such as a wool sweater or even your own hair. The balloon would likely become charged and its charge would exert a strange influence upon other objects in its vicinity. If some small bits of paper were placed upon a table and the balloon were brought near and held above the paper bits, then the presence of the charged balloon might create a sufficient attraction for the paper bits to raise them off the table. This influence - known as an electric force - occurs even when the charged balloon is held some distance away from the paper bits. The electric force is a non-contact force. Any charged object can exert this force upon other objects - both charged and uncharged objects. One goal of this unit of The Physics Classroom is to understand the nature of the electric force. In this part of Lesson 1, two simple and fundamental statements will be made and explained about the nature of the electric force.
Opposites attract. And likes repel.
These two fundamental principles of charge interactions will be used throughout the unit to explain the vast array of static electricity phenomena. As mentioned in the previous section of Lesson 1, there are two types of electrically charged objects - those that contain more protons than electrons and are said to be positively charged and those that contain less protons than electrons and are said to be negatively charged. These two types of electrical charges - positive and negative - are said to be opposite types of charge. And consistent with our fundamental principle of charge interaction, a positively charged object will attract a negatively charged object. Oppositely charged objects will exert an attractive influence upon each other. In contrast to the attractive force between two objects with opposite charges, two objects that are of like charge will repel each other. That is, a positively charged object will exert a repulsive force upon a second positively charged object. This repulsive force will push the two objects apart. Similarly, a negatively charged object will exert a repulsive force upon a second negatively charged object. Objects with like charge repel each other.