One of the laws of electromagnetism is that like (similar) charges repel and opposite charges attract. The more charge something has, the more it attracts or repels. Also, the closer two charges are to each other, the greater the attraction or repulsion between them.
You can demonstrate how charges attract and repel with the following experiment. Hang two inflated balloons from a door frame or ceiling so that they are just touching. Take a sweater or wool sock and rub the sides of both balloons to negatively charge them - the balloons will pick up extra electrons from the sweater. What happens? The balloons will repel each other - the two negative charges push each other away. What do you think will happen if you stick your hand, which is positively charged, in between the two balloons? Because the balloons have a negative charge, they will be attracted and move toward the positive charge of your hand.
The Law of Change Conservation states that the net amount of electric charge is constant, so electrons can only move from one place to another - they don't disappear. This means that if one thing gains electrons and becomes negatively charged, something else has lost electrons and become positively charged. In your experiment, the balloons picked up the extra electrons and became negatively charged, while the wool lost electrons.
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