Question

practice it! joselin and her friends went to a birthday party. when they arrived they saw presents, cake, and balloons. she noticed one of the balloons was stuck to the wall. which of the following is the most likely explanation of why the balloon was stuck to the wall: the balloon was hung from the ceiling to charge it. the balloon was rubbed against the carpet to charge it. extra air was added to the balloon to charge it. the temperature of the balloon was decreased to charge it.

Explanation:

When a balloon is rubbed against a carpet, electrons are transferred between them (triboelectric effect). This gives the balloon a static charge. Opposite charges attract. The wall has a neutral charge, but the charged balloon can induce a charge separation in the wall (polarization). The charged balloon is then attracted to the wall. Hanging from the ceiling doesn't transfer charge. Adding extra air just increases the volume (related to gas laws like \(PV = nRT\), but no charge transfer). Decreasing temperature affects volume (Charles's law \(V\propto T\) at constant pressure), not charge.

Answer:

The balloon was rubbed against the carpet to charge it.