Electrical Charges

Part 4

Induction

By: Samuel

Charging by Induction

Charging by Induction is used to get an object charged with another without them physically touching each other. An example used commonly is when a negatively charged object is held near one of the two touching metal balls (metal works best) suspended from the ground with insulating stands (so electrons cannot escape). The negatively charged object which is not touching the two balls will repel and induce the electrons from the nearer sphere to the other one which is called mass migration, leaving the first sphere with a lot less electrons and the second sphere with a lot more. The two balls are then separated, and they will both have different charges. The first one having a positive charge, and the second having a negative charge. 

It is also similar to when a positively charged object is used at the start. The electrons will move to the sphere nearer to the object, and when the spheres are again separated, they will have different charges.  Another way of Induction is to charge a single object with a helping hand-literally. It’s basically the same, except the electrons from the sphere will move to your hand, which is basically replacing the second sphere in the first example. Your hand, in this example, is the ground. A ground is a large object which has a large amount of electrons which can act like a source or an electron-dispensing object, and can also receive a large amount of electrons, so it works both ways.