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A student rubs a plastic rod with a dry cloth - Edexcel - GCSE Physics - Question 1 - 2014 - Paper 1
Question 1
A student rubs a plastic rod with a dry cloth. The cloth becomes positively charged. (i) Complete the sentence by putting a cross (✗) in the box next to your answer... show full transcript
Worked Solution & Example Answer:A student rubs a plastic rod with a dry cloth - Edexcel - GCSE Physics - Question 1 - 2014 - Paper 1
Step 1
Complete the sentence by putting a cross (✗) in the box next to your answer.
Answer
The cloth becomes positively charged because A negative charge has moved from the cloth to the rod. When the rod is rubbed with the dry cloth, electrons (which carry a negative charge) transfer from the cloth to the rod. This results in the cloth losing negative charge and therefore becoming positively charged.
Step 2
Explain why the strips behave in this way after they are rubbed with the cloth.
Answer
After the student rubs both plastic strips with the dry cloth, they acquire like charges due to the transfer of electrons. Since both strips now have similar charges (either positive or negative), they repel each other. This repulsion causes them to move apart as they are hung by a thread.