Gold Leaf Electroscope

Quick Answer: Gold Leaf Electroscope is a classic static-electricity instrument that shows the presence of electric charge through the visible divergence of a pair of gold leaves.

The instrument is housed in a rectangular cast metal case with a polythene-insulated lid — lifted by a finger flap — that keeps the internal charge-carrying parts insulated from the earthed metal body, and a sliding front glass window that lets a charged or ionizing material be inserted without removing the lid. Inside, a support plate carries one pair of gold leaves in front of a scale. Touching a charged object to the terminal transfers charge by conduction, and since both leaves then carry the same sign of charge, Coulomb repulsion pushes them apart; bringing a charged object close without contact produces the same divergence by induction. The angle the leaves separate through, read against the scale, gives a rough visual measure of how much charge is present — a simple physics lab equipment India way to demonstrate conduction, induction and Coulomb repulsion in a single setup.

It is part of EduScope India's Physics Lab Equipment range, and is commonly ordered alongside the Deflection Magnetometer and Multimeter, Digital for electricity and magnetism coursework.