The Pith balls may be positive, negative or neutral.

Four pith balls are suspended by insulated threads. The following reaction occurs.
a) #2 pith ball is positively charged
b) #2 attracts all the other pith balls,.
c) #1 and#3 pith balls repel each other.
d) #4 attracts all the other ith balls.
Determine the charge on each pith ball.

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Can someone help me on this?? I don’t understand this either!!

To determine the charge on each pith ball, let's analyze the given information step by step:

Step 1: It is stated that the #2 pith ball is positively charged.
Therefore, we assign a positive charge (+) to pith ball #2.

Step 2: It is mentioned that the #2 pith ball attracts all the other pith balls.
Since the other pith balls are attracted to pith ball #2, they must have an opposite charge to it. Therefore, the other three pith balls (#1, #3, and #4) should have a negative charge.

Step 3: It is indicated that pith balls #1 and #3 repel each other.
Since like charges repel, we conclude that pith balls #1 and #3 have the same charge, which is negative (-).

Step 4: It is stated that the #4 pith ball attracts all the other pith balls.
Since the #4 pith ball attracts the other three pith balls (#1, #2, and #3), it must have the opposite charge to them. Therefore, pith ball #4 should have a positive charge (+).

Based on the given information and our analysis, we can determine the charges on each pith ball as follows:

- Pith ball #1: Negative charge (-)
- Pith ball #2: Positive charge (+)
- Pith ball #3: Negative charge (-)
- Pith ball #4: Positive charge (+)

To determine the charge on each pith ball based on the given information, we can analyze the given reactions.

a) #2 pith ball is positively charged:
This tells us that #2 pith ball has a positive charge.

b) #2 attracts all the other pith balls:
Since #2 pith ball is positively charged, it will attract the pith balls with opposite charges. This means that the other pith balls (#1, #3, and #4) must be negatively charged. So, #1, #3, and #4 pith balls have negative charges.

c) #1 and #3 pith balls repel each other:
Since #1 and #3 pith balls both have negative charges, they will repel each other. This confirms that both #1 and #3 pith balls are negatively charged.

d) #4 attracts all the other pith balls:
Since #4 pith ball attracts all the other pith balls, and the other pith balls are negatively charged, this means that #4 pith ball must be positively charged.

Based on the given information, we can summarize the charges on each pith ball as follows:

#1 pith ball: Negative
#2 pith ball: Positive
#3 pith ball: Negative
#4 pith ball: Positive