Electrified Balloons
From the last experiment it may have been gathered that if a piece of paper is dried and rubbed with a silk handkerchief or the dry hand it will adhere to the face, arms, or clothing.
It may not be so widely known, however, that if toy balloons be filled with air, and then stroked for a short time with a piece of fur, they will act in the same way as the electrified paper.
It is rather amusing to see these balloons, after being treated thus, placed against the wall or ceiling, where they will stick as if they were glued there.
Fig. 11.—The electrified balloons.
Having entertained your friends in this manner, you may, by way of a little change, take two of these toy balloons, and, after having electrified them, suspend them from the same point by means of two silken threads.
You will be surprised to find that the balloons now repel each other in the same manner as pith balls do ([Fig. 11]).