EL-ELSCOPE

This pith-ball electroscope is used to detect the presence of a static electricity charge. The two lightweight “pith” balls suspended from the strings are attracted to objects with a static electric charge. The pith balls can also be charged by touching them to an object with a static electric charge.
The pith-ball electroscope is useful for detecting electric charges and for determining the polarity of an unknown charge. Instructions with experiments are included.

Abstract


A pith ball is a very small, lightweight object that picks up electric charge quite well. A charged pith ball works well to show the Coulomb force between two charged objects. If a glass rod is rubbed with silk, the silk rubs some electrons off the rod. The rod thus becomes positively charged.