What would happen if a neutral glass rod is brought near a positively charged glass rod?
The correct answer and explanation is:
Correct Answer:
If a neutral glass rod is brought near a positively charged glass rod, there will be no significant attraction or repulsion between them. Both rods are made of the same material, and since glass is an insulator, the neutral rod cannot redistribute charges effectively to create an induced interaction.
Explanation (Approx. 300 words):
To understand what happens when a neutral glass rod is brought near a positively charged glass rod, it’s important to examine the properties of both the materials and the behavior of electric charges.
Glass is an insulating material, meaning that the electrons in it are tightly bound to their atoms and do not move freely. This is in contrast to conductors, like metals, where electrons can move easily throughout the material. In a conductor, bringing a charged object near a neutral one causes electrons to rearrange—a process called electrostatic induction—resulting in attraction. However, this does not happen efficiently in insulators like glass.
A positively charged glass rod has lost some electrons, leaving behind an excess of positive charges. A neutral glass rod, on the other hand, has equal numbers of protons and electrons and no net charge. Because both rods are insulators, their charges are essentially fixed in place and cannot redistribute in response to nearby electric fields.
Since there’s no significant movement of charges within the neutral glass rod, no strong induced dipole is formed, which means the interaction between the two rods is minimal. There may be a very weak electrostatic influence due to slight polarization of molecules within the neutral rod, but this is typically negligible, especially in insulating materials.
Furthermore, because like charges repel, if there were any slight influence, the neutral rod would not be attracted—it may even experience a minimal repulsive force due to the positive charges aligning in a way that doesn’t favor attraction.
In summary, when a neutral glass rod is brought near a positively charged glass rod, little to no interaction occurs, primarily because both are insulators and do not allow for the charge redistribution required for significant electrostatic forces to act.