Wednesday 6 September 2023

Static hair and the triboelectric series

I have seen different accounts of whether hair is charged positively or negatively. It turns out that there is a way to work it out called the  Triboelectric Series. Hair is close to the top of the positive end and there is a big separation to balloon rubber. Hence the hair loses electrons to the balloon and in this instance the balloon ends up positive. The only material that would leave the hair negative would be glass.