Electroscope

An electroscope is an early scientific instrument that is used to detect the presence and magnitude
of electric charge on a body. It was the first electrical measuring instrument. The first
electroscope, a pivoted needle called the versorium, was invented by British physician William
Gilbert around 1600. The pith-ball electroscope and the gold-leaf electroscope are two classical
types of electroscope that are still used to demonstrate electrostatics. A type of electroscope is
also used in the quartz fiber radiation dosimeter.

Electroscopes detect electric charge by the motion of a test object due to the Coulomb
electrostatic force. The electric potential or voltage of an object equals its charge divided by its
capacitance, so electroscopes can be regarded as crude voltmeters. The accumulation of enough
charge to detect with an electroscope requires hundreds or thousands of volts, so electroscopes
are only used with high voltage sources such as static electricity and electrostatic machines.
Electroscopes generally give only a rough, qualitative indication of the magnitude of the charge; an
instrument that measures charge quantitatively is called an electrometer.
Gold-leaf electroscope

Gold leaf electroscope showing electrostatic induction

The gold-leaf electroscope was developed in 1787 by British

clergyman and physicist Abraham Bennet, as a more sensitive
instrument than pith ball or straw blade electroscopes then in use. It
consists of a vertical metal rod, usually brass, from the end of which
hang two parallel strips of thin flexible gold leaf. A disk or ball
terminal is attached to the top of the rod, where the charge to be tested is applied. To protect the
gold leaves from drafts of air they are enclosed in a glass bottle, usually open at the bottom and
mounted over a conductive base. Often there are grounded metal plates or foil strips in the bottle
flanking the gold leaves on either side. These are a safety measure; if an excessive charge is
applied to the delicate gold leaves, they will touch the grounding plates and discharge before
tearing. They also capture charge leaking through the air that could accumulate on the glass walls,
and increase the sensitivity of the instrument. In precision instruments the inside of the bottle was
occasionally evacuated, to prevent the charge on the terminal from leaking off through ionization of
the air.

When the metal terminal is touched with a charged object, the gold leaves spread apart in a 'V'.
This is because some of the charge on the object is conducted through the terminal and metal rod
to the leaves. Since they receive the same sign charge they repel each other and thus diverge. If
the terminal is grounded by touching it with a finger, the charge is transferred through the human
body into the earth and the gold leaves close together.

The electroscope can also be charged without touching it to a charged object, by electrostatic
induction. If a charged object is brought near the electroscope terminal, the leaves also diverge,
because the electric field of the object causes the charges in the electroscope rod to separate.
Charges of the opposite polarity to the charged object are attracted to the terminal, while charges
with the same polarity are repelled to the leaves, causing them to spread. If the electroscope
terminal is grounded while the charged object is nearby, by touching it momentarily with a finger,
the same polarity charges in the leaves drain away to ground, leaving the electroscope with a net
charge of opposite polarity to the object. The leaves close because the charge is all concentrated
at the terminal end. When the charged object is moved away, the charge at the terminal spreads
into the leaves, causing them to spread apart again.
Pith-ball electroscope

Pith ball electroscope showing attraction to a charged object.

A pith-ball electroscope, invented by British weaver's apprentice John

Canton in 1754, consists of a small ball of some lightweight nonconductive
substance, originally pith, suspended by a silk thread from the hook of
an insulated stand. In order to test the presence of a charge on an object,
the object is brought near to the uncharged pith ball. If the object is charged, the pith ball will be
attracted to it.

The attraction occurs because of induced polarization of the atoms inside the pith ball. The pith is
a nonconductor, so the electrons are not free to leave their atoms and move about in the ball, but
they can move a little within the atoms. If, for example, a positively charged object is brought near
the ball, the negative electrons in each atom will be attracted and move slightly toward the side of
the atom nearer the object. The positively charged nuclei will move slightly away. Since the negative
charges are now nearer the object than the positive charges, their attraction is greater than the
repulsion of the positive charges, resulting in a net attractive force. This separation of charge is
microscopic, but since there are so many atoms, the tiny forces add up to a large enough force to
move a light pith ball.

The pith ball can be charged by touching it to a charged object. Then the ball can be used to
distinguish the polarity of charge on other objects because it will be repelled by objects charged
with the same polarity or sign it has, but attracted to charges of the opposite polarity.
Often the electroscope will have a pair of suspended pith balls. This allows one to tell at a glance
whether the pith balls are charged. If one of the pith balls is touched to a charged object, charging
it, the second one will be attracted and touch it, communicating some of the charge. Now both balls
have the same polarity charge, so they repel each other, and hang in an inverted 'V' shape with the
balls spread apart. The distance between the balls will give a rough idea of the magnitude of the
charge.