Balloon and Confetti
Safety Warnings
Warning: Latex Allergies
Purpose
A charged balloon attracts neutral paper confetti via polarization and picks up oppositely charged foam confetti via Coulomb attraction. Deflating the balloon while maintaining its charge increases surface charge density, visibly strengthening the electric field and attracting more confetti.
Figure 1:
Inflated balloon held over a watch glass of foam confetti before charging.
Figure 2:
Rubbing the balloon with the Teflon disk gives it a positive charge.
Figure 3:
The positively charged balloon attracts negatively charged foam confetti pieces, which jump upward.
Figure 4:
As air is released and the balloon shrinks, surface charge density increases and more confetti jumps to the balloon.