Induction is another way to create a charge in an object. You can charge an object by induction without even touching it. I’ve got a couple of really neat experiments that will show you how this works, but here’s the basic idea: when you have two metal objects, like two soda cans, standing upright on a foam slab and just touching each other (so they are insulated from the table but in contact with each other), you can bring a charged balloon close to one of them and see a really interesting effect: the can closest to the charged balloon (which has a negative charge) will take on a positive charge, and the soda can furthest from the balloon will take on a negative charge. And when you separate the two cans, the charges on each will be evenly distributed over the surface of each can and remain polarized (the further can keeps its negative charge and the closer can keeps its positive charge). That’s charging by induction!
Please login or register to read the rest of this content.