Science Smarts: Static electricity

By PATTY ROOKS on March 12, 2022.

I do not know about your house, but it is SO dry around mine. The other day as I was getting dressed, my clothes were sticking to me like a magnet and sparking like lightning! Not to mention what it does to my hair – without even trying it sticks straight in the air.

Of course, the explanation of what is going on can be found in science; static electricity to be exact. Let’s investigate further.

Remember to ask an adult before you do this experiment.

Materials

• Balloon

• Clean, dry head of hair, or a wool sweater

• Sheet of black paper

• Salt

• Pepper

• Sturdy surface

• Tablespoon

Procedure

• Place the sheet of black coloured paper on a sturdy surface.

• Place six tablespoons of salt on the paper. You want to have a nice mound of salt.

• Add three tablespoons of pepper.

• Make sure the mixture is mixed up well.

• Blow up the balloon and tie it.

• Rub the balloon in your hair (or a volunteer’s hair). Rub really well.

• Slowly place the balloon over the salt and pepper mixture.

• What do you see

• Did you hear anything?

• Repeat.

Caution: You do not want to touch your eyes while doing this experiment as the pepper powder on your fingers will really sting your eyes. Once you are done, be sure to dispose of the balloon and wash your hands very well.

Explanation

You should have heard and saw the pepper quickly attract to the balloon. This is because when you rubbed the balloon in your hair, it became charged. The pepper in this experiment was uncharged. When you held a charged object (balloon) over the pepper that was uncharged, it quickly became attracted to it. If you carefully look at the bottom of the balloon, you will be able to see all of the pepper stuck to it.

Patty Rooks, Senior Scientific Consultant PRAXIS, “Connecting Science To The Community”. Contact Praxis at praxis@praxismh.ca, http://www.praxismh.ca, Tweet or follow us @PraxisMedHat, or friend us on Facebook. Address: #12 826 11 Street S. E., Medicine Hat, Alberta, T1A 1T7 Phone: 403.527.5365, email: praxis@praxismh.ca.

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