Pith Ball Lab Directions: Follow the instructions to go through the simulation. Respond to the questions and prompts in the orange boxes. Vocabulary: Coulomb’s law, electrostatic force, gravitational force, induced charge, pith ball, Pythagorean Theorem, tension, vector Prior Knowledge Questions ...
Student Exploration: Pith Ball Lab
Directions: Follow the instructions to go through the simulation. Respond to the questions and
prompts in the orange boxes.
Prior Knowledge Questions (Do these BEFORE using the Gizmo.)
1. A girl rubs a balloon on her head and then holds it a short
distance away. Why does her hair stick to the balloon?
Because of static electricity
2. Why do you think the individual strands of hair are spread apart?
The strands probably all have the same charge so they repel one
another
Gizmo Warm-up
The girl’s hair was attracted to the balloon by the electrostatic force, a
force between all charged objects. Most objects acquire a charge (q) by
gaining or losing electrons. Objects that gain electrons become
negatively charged, while objects that lose electrons become positively
charged.
The Pith Ball Lab Gizmo shows two pith balls hanging by strings. Pith balls
are made from lightweight material that can easily acquire a charge. To
begin, check that the charge on1 each pith ball (q and q ) is 0.0 × 10
-6
coulombs (C).
Use the sliders to test each combination of charges listed below. State whether the electrostatic
force is attractive (balls move together), repulsive (balls move apart), or zero (balls don’t move).
Charge on left ball (q1) Charge on right ball (q2) Electrostatic force
Positive Zero zero
Zero Negative zero
Positive Positive repulsive
Negative Negative repulsive
Positive Negative attractive
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