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What is a Gold Leaf Electroscope?
The gold leaf electroscope has a very very
thin piece of
gold foil (called gold
leaf) fixed at the top to a piece of copper.
The copper has a large round
top, called the cap.
The whole thing is put inside a
glass case,
to stop air blowing the
delicate gold
leaf around.
The piece of copper goes through insulation in the
top of the
glass
case,
so that any charge on the gold
leaf cannot escape.
The picture below shows an uncharged gold leaf electroscope.
Charge can be
transferred to the electroscope by wiping
the charged object across the cap.
The charge flows over the
conducting
copper and gold, and the gold leaf rises as it
becomes
repelled
by having the same charge as the
copper.
The picture above shows a charged gold leaf electroscope.
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