If you rub two identical balloons together, they both pick up a static charge. This behavior is strange and unexpected, but it’s been documented in the scientific literature. When our host George tries the experiment, he stumbles into something that — to the best of his knowledge — has never been reported in the literature.
Sources:
- The secrets of static electricity are finally being revealed
- Spontaneous ordering of identical materials into a triboelectric series | Nature
- THE DISSECTIBLE LEYDEN JAR - WHITE - 1903 - School Science and Mathematics - Wiley Online Library
- Robust Triboelectric Charging of Identical Balloons of Different Radii | The Physics Teacher | AIP Publishing
- Long-standing and unresolved issues in triboelectric charging | Nature Reviews Chemistry
- Electrical separation between identical solid surfaces - IOPscience
- Tribo-electricity and friction. III.—Solid elements and textiles | Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Containing Papers of a Mathematical and Physical Character
- Dependence of contact electrification on the magnitude of strain in polymeric materials | Journal of Applied Physics | AIP Publishing
- Dependence of triboelectric charging behavior on material microstructure | Phys. Rev. Materials
- The Electrical Charges from Like Solids | Nature
- How a Van de Graaff Generator Works
- Spontaneous tribocharging of similar materials - IOPscience
- Building a Van De Graaff HIGH VOLTAGE Generator - YouTube
- Revelando el signo de las cargas eléctricas usando un detector de polaridad entretenido | Revista Eureka sobre Enseñanza y Divulgación de las Ciencias
- Using Capacitors to Measure Charge in Electrostatic Experiments | The Physics Teacher | AIP Publishing
- Tribo-electricity and friction. III.—Solid elements and textiles | Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Containing Papers of a Mathematical and Physical Character
- Spraying of water microdroplets forms luminescence and causes chemical reactions in surrounding gas | Science Advances
- Visualization of the Charging of Water Droplets Sprayed into Air | The Journal of Physical Chemistry A
- Size-dependent charge transfer between water microdroplets | PNAS
- What Puts the “Tribo” in Triboelectricity? | Nano Letters
- Anomalous Charging Behavior of Inorganic Materials | The Journal of Physical Chemistry C
- THE DISSECTIBLE LEYDEN JAR - WHITE - 1903 - School Science and Mathematics - Wiley Online Library
- Electrostatics and Electrochemistry: Mechanism and Scope of Charge-Transfer Reactions on the Surface of Tribocharged Insulators | Journal of the American Chemical Society
- Triboelectric Charging of Particles, an Ongoing Matter: From the Early Onset of Planet Formation to Assembling Crystals | ACS Omega
- Charge Separation from the Bursting of Bubbles on Water | The Journal of Physical Chemistry A
- Electrophorus - YouTube
- A Leyden bucket - IOPscience
- Benjamin Franklin and the dissectible capacitor: his observations might surprise you - IOPscience
- THE DISSECTIBLE LEYDEN JAR - WHITE - 1903 - School Science and Mathematics - Wiley Online Library
- Dissectible Capacitor/Leyden Jar - How it Works - YouTube
- The mystery of the fun fly stick explained - YouTube
- The Physics of the LEIDEN JAR - AAPT Films - YouTube
- Make a SUPER HIGH VOLTAGE Capacitor - YouTube
- Probing Contact Electrification: A Cohesively Sticky Problem | ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
- Electrostatic Demonstrations – A QuadruPaul Ion Trap
- 1757: Triboelectric series - The book of science
- The Origins of Solid-Solid Contact Electrification | SpringerLink
- Contact electrification of insulating materials - IOPscience
- Violation of triboelectric charge conservation on colliding particles | Phys. Rev. E
- What Happens When Balloons Are Rubbed Together? – Tilco Balloons
- Triboelectrification of identical insulators. I. An experimental investigation - IOPscience
- Spontaneous tribocharging of similar materials - IOPscience
- What Happens When Balloons Are Rubbed Together? – Tilco Balloons
- Contact electrification-why is it variable? - IOPscience