A person starts to clean the prize by rubbing the plastic base with a dry cloth - Edexcel - GCSE Physics - Question 1 - 2023 - Paper 2
Question 1
A person starts to clean the prize by rubbing the plastic base with a dry cloth.
The plastic base becomes positively charged and the cloth becomes negatively charged... show full transcript
Worked Solution & Example Answer:A person starts to clean the prize by rubbing the plastic base with a dry cloth - Edexcel - GCSE Physics - Question 1 - 2023 - Paper 2
Step 1
The plastic base has
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Answer
The correct answer is A: gained electrons. This is because the plastic base, when rubbed with the cloth, acquires extra electrons, resulting in a net negative charge.
Step 2
Explain why the cloth has become negatively charged.
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Answer
The cloth has become negatively charged because it has lost electrons to the plastic base during the rubbing process. As the electrons are negatively charged, their loss results in the cloth having a surplus of positive charge.
Step 3
Explain why the cloth loses its charge.
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The cloth loses its charge when it is rubbed with the metal star because the metal allows for the transfer of electrons. When the cloth rubs against the metal star, some of its excess electrons may transfer to the metal, leading to the neutralization of the charge on the cloth.
Step 4
Figure 2 shows a magnified view of part of the surface of the plastic base and a dust particle.
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In Figure 2, the dust particle is affected by the charged plastic base. The plastic base has a positive charge on the right side, which attracts the negatively charged side of the dust particle. Conversely, the left side of the dust particle is attracted to the positive charge of the base. This interaction causes the dust particle to be drawn toward the charged surface.
