Ball A attracts B and repels C. Ball D attracts B and has no effect on E. A negatively charged rod attracts both A and E. What are the charges,if any,on each ball?

Sorry, ball E both has no charge and a positive charge. I can not make sense of this or I would have replied long ago. It is either as typo or an error or I am simply not understanding.

if the rod attracts E , E is +
B is - so D is + so D would repel E
Repel and no effect is a contradiction.

I made the question short so ill write the whole question maybe it might make sense to you.

1.Five styroform balls are suspended from insulating threads. Several experiements are performed on the balls and the following observations are made:

*Ball A attracts B and repels C

*Ball D attracts B and has no effect on E
*A negatively charged rod attracts both A and E.
What are the charges if any on each?

To determine the charges on the balls, we need to analyze the given information. Let's go step by step:

1. Ball A attracts B and repels C:
This implies that Ball A must have an opposite charge to Ball B, as opposite charges attract. Moreover, Ball A must have the same charge as Ball C, as like charges repel.

2. Ball D attracts B and has no effect on E:
This tells us that Ball D must have the opposite charge to Ball B, as opposite charges attract. Additionally, Ball D doesn't have any effect on Ball E, so they can have different charges.

3. A negatively charged rod attracts both A and E:
Since the negatively charged rod attracts both Ball A and Ball E, it indicates that both A and E have the opposite charge to the rod.

Based on these deductions, we can conclude the following:

- Ball A and the negatively charged rod have opposite charges.
- Ball B and Ball D have opposite charges.
- Ball C and Ball A have the same charge.
- Ball E and the negatively charged rod have opposite charges.

As the question does not provide specific information about the exact charges, we can represent the charges symbolically:

- Let's denote the negatively charged rod as (-).
- We can represent the unknown charges of Ball A, B, C, D, and E as x, -x, x, -x, and (-), respectively.

Therefore, the charges, if any, on each ball are as follows:

- Ball A: x
- Ball B: -x
- Ball C: x
- Ball D: -x
- Ball E: (-)

Note that the symbols x and (-) can be replaced with any positive and negative charge.