Prepare a small loose cotton ball. Electrify a plastic ruler and place this lump on top of it.

Prepare a small loose cotton ball. Electrify a plastic ruler and place this lump on top of it. Shake the ruler sharply so that the cotton ball lags behind it. Explain why a piece of cotton wool floats above the ruler.

When a person puts cotton wool on a ruler, some of the charge flows onto it. If you shake the ruler, it turns out that its charge is similar to that on cotton wool.

Charges of one type are repelled, different charges, on the contrary, are attracted. A negatively charged particle is called an electron. Positively charged – the nucleus of an atom, which consists of neutral particles – neutrons and positively charged particles – protons. The specific electricity of an ionizing particle, of a strictly defined type of energy, corresponds to the type of electron, therefore, when it interacts with the ions of the nucleus, its charge changes in relation to the electric charge of the protons.