You rub two insulators against each other and attain a charge imbalance. Is there a rule as to which of the materials will end up with a negative charge and vice versa? Does it depend on which one has more or less lose valence electrons?
You rub two insulators against each other and attain a charge imbalance. Is there a rule as to which of the materials will end up with a negative charge and vice versa? Does it depend on which one has more or less lose valence electrons?
15 Comments
fullsquare@awful.systems · 12 pts · 114d
there is empirical series of materials sorted from which one is most likely to lose vs gain electrons, but what exactly happens is one of unsolved problems in physics
GreyEyedGhost@piefed.ca · 1 pts · 114d
Here's a link to an article talking about it, including a small list of materials and if they will lose or gain electrons. I found that with a quick search, more or better ones can be found, I'm sure. I chose this one because it has the split between gain and loss, which others don't.
Edit: working link
dreamy@quokk.au · 2 pts · 113d
hansolo@lemmy.today · 6 pts · 114d
Bro, I got some wool, a balloon, and a copper wire.
Make your best offer. Starting price $1 for 58 electrons.
emotional_soup_88@programming.dev · 3 pts · 114d
Sweet! Let me just... mumble mumble 6.241509×10^18^ divided by 58 mumble mumble $107,612,224,137,931,034.4827586207 for 1 amp? You're gonna go bankrupt YESTERDAY. Just out of pity, let me give you $1 for 50 electrons?
hansolo@lemmy.today · 3 pts · 114d
Can you do $51 for ∞ electrons?
I just really need $51 is all.
emotional_soup_88@programming.dev · 2 pts · 114d
...
thenextguy@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 114d
One of those times where losing and loosing are both arguably correct.
homes@piefed.world · 3 pts · 114d
I’m glad I’m not the only one who noticed that amusing Schrödinger’s misspelling.
emotional_soup_88@programming.dev · 2 pts · 114d
Aah shet. I'm not a native speaker. 😂
thenextguy@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 114d
To be fair, they both have the same root origin. Even native speakers get it wrong often.
sbeak@sopuli.xyz · 2 pts · 114d
The short answer is, to "lose" means to have lost something (e.g. "Did you lose your keys?", but in this case it's electrons) while to "loose" is used to describe getting something to be able to move freely / unstuck (which could arguably be used to describe the loss of electrons in a material, since you're rubbing them loose)
So both spellings can work :D
Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafe · 1 pts · 113d
And the messed up thing is they both are pronounced opposite to the spelling.
You'd think "loose" would have the longer O sound, but "lose" does. 🤦
sbeak@sopuli.xyz · 1 pts · 113d
English really is a funny language
homes@piefed.world · 2 pts · 114d
It’s particularly amusing because this is a very rare example of when either spelling (two different words) could be correct in this context without changing the overall meaning of the sentence at all.
cecilkorik@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 114d
I think that's a reasonable rule of thumb to start from, but like most things in physics it's not guaranteed and is rarely exactly that simple.