How does a plastic comb attract paper? |

Topic: Electric Charge
How does a plastic comb attract paper?
What?
You don't believe me?
Ok. Let us try.
Take a plastic comb and bring it close to some pieces of paper.
Hey, Wait. Don't laugh.
We need to do something first.
Rub the comb on your dry hair and then bring the comb close to the pieces of paper.
See, I was correct.
The pieces of paper got attracted to the plastic comb.
Do you think it is magic?
No, the reason behind this is electric charge.
Electric charge is the quantity of electricity held in an object.
There are 2 types of electric charges, positive and negative.
However, there are some objects where the positive and negative charges are equal to one another.
In such cases, we say that the object is electrically neutral.
So, was the plastic comb initially electrically neutral or electrically charged?
Initially, the plastic comb was electrically neutral.
That means it had equal number of positive and negative charges.
Hence, it did not have the ability to exert a force and attract the pieces of paper.
So, after rubbing the plastic comb on our dry hair, why was it able to attract the pieces of paper?
I will tell you why.
When we rubbed the plastic comb on our dry hair, it gained an electric charge.
Once it got electrically charged, it got the ability to exert a force on the pieces of paper and attract them.
This charge is called as static electricity.
However, do you think, like a plastic comb, a metallic comb will also attract the pieces of paper?
No, you are wrong.
A metallic comb will not attract the pieces of paper like the plastic comb.
Wondering why is that so?
It is because plastic is not a good conductor of electricity.
It does not allow the electric charges to flow through it onto the earth.
As a result, the charges build in the plastic comb, making it electrically charged and enabling it to attract the pieces of paper.
However, metal is a good conductor of electricity.
It does not let the charges build in it.
It allows the electric charges to flow through it onto the earth, thus, not allowing the metallic comb to get electrically charged.
As a result, the metallic comb does not attract the pieces of paper.