Question

An eccentric inventor attempts to levitate by first placing a large negative charge on himself and then putting a large positive charge on the ceiling of his workshop. Instead, while attempting to place a large negative charge on himself, his clothes fly off. Explain.

Answer 1

When the inventor charged himself negatively, his insulating clothes also became negatively charged and were repelled due to electrostatic forces, causing them to fly off.

Step-by-step explanation:

The scenario described involves electrostatic phenomena. When the eccentric inventor tries to charge himself negatively, he likely uses a device similar to a Van de Graaff generator, which can transfer a large amount of charge. As he accumulates negative charge, his clothes, which are poor conductors (insulators), get charged negatively as well. Clothing, made from insulating materials, will hold onto this charge and not allow it to move freely across its surface.

Due to the principles of electrostatic repulsion, the similar negative charges on the inventor's clothes and on his body repel each other strongly. Since the clothes cannot discharge quickly enough into the air or another object, the electrostatic forces can become great enough to propel them away from his body, resulting in the clothes flying off.

This is a demonstration of the principle that like charges repel, which is a fundamental concept in electrostatics.

Answer 2

shirt is little attached to the body, it can come off and fly away

Step-by-step explanation:

In electrostatics, charges of different signs attract and charges of the same sign repel.

In this case, when a negative charge is placed on it, both the inventor and the shirt are charged, therefore there is a repulsive force, also there is an attraction between the positive charge of the roof attracts the negative charge, such as the shirt. of weak the two forces not greater than the resistance of the walk.

As the shirt is little attached to the body, it can come off and fly away