What happened when you tried to bring the two balloons close together? Explain why using what you know about electric charge.
When two balloons are brought close together, they may either repel or attract each other, depending on their charge. The reason behind this behavior lies in electric charge.
Every object is made up of atoms, which in turn consist of positively charged protons, negatively charged electrons, and neutral neutrons. In most cases, objects have an equal number of protons and electrons, resulting in a neutral charge overall.
However, there are scenarios where an object gains or loses electrons, causing it to become positively or negatively charged. When an object gains electrons, it becomes negatively charged since the number of negatively charged electrons exceeds the number of positively charged protons. Conversely, when an object loses electrons, it becomes positively charged.
Now, coming back to the balloons, static electricity is used to charge them. When rubbing a balloon against certain materials like hair or wool, electrons are transferred from one material to the other. This process can leave one balloon with a surplus of electrons, making it negatively charged, and the other balloon with fewer electrons, rendering it positively charged.
Therefore, when bringing the two balloons close together, they experience an electric force due to their opposite charges. Opposite charges attract each other, so the positively charged balloon will attract the negatively charged balloon, and they would appear to "stick" together. On the other hand, if both balloons were charged with the same kind of charge (both positive or both negative), like charges would repel each other, causing the balloons to push away.