Repeat the demonstration as many times as desired. Then hold the statically charged balloon near the end of the light bulb. (The darker the better!) Rub the balloon on your hair for several seconds. PROCESS: Turn all of the lights off in the room. The farthest they can get is by standing up and away from each other. In other words, the hairs try to get as far away from each other as possible. Now that each of the hairs has the same charge, they want to repel each other.

The water in the air helps electrons move off you more quickly, so you can not build up as big of a charge.ĮXPLANATION: Why does this happen? It’s because of static electricity! When you rub the balloon on your hair, you’re covering it with little negative charges. During the summer, the air is more humid. You usually notice static electricity in the winter when the air is very dry. Watch what happens! Your hair will stick up! *This also happens when you take off your wool hat in the wintertime. Rub it against your hair on top of your head. The resulting spark is like a mini lightning bolt. Lightning happens when the negative charges, which are called electrons, in the bottom of the cloud or in this experiment your finger are attracted to the positive charges, which are called protons, in the ground or in this experiment the aluminum pie pan. Check out what you see! You should see a spark!!ĮXPLANATION: Why does this happen? It’s all about static electricity. Once you feel the shock, try turning the lights out before you touch the pan again. If you don’t feel anything, try rubbing the styrofoam plate again. Touch the aluminum pie pan with your finger. Pick up the aluminum pie pan using the pencil as a handle and place it on top of the upside-down styrofoam plate that you were just rubbing with the wool. Quickly, rub the underneath of the plate with the wool for a couple of minutes. Put the styrofoam plate upside-down on a table. PROCESS: Push the thumbtack through the center of the aluminum pie pan from the bottom Push the eraser end of the pencil into the thumbtack. When the two meet, they react in a tiny spark that you can see. These charges attract the oppositely charged nitrogen in the air. The sugars release little electrical charges in the air. If you do it right, you should see bluish flashes of light.ĮXPLANATION: Why does this happen? When you break the lifesaver apart, you’re breaking apart sugars inside the candy. While keeping your mouth open, break the lifesaver up with your teeth and look for sparks. Put a Wint-O-Green or a Pep-O-Mint lifesaver in your mouth. Wait a few minutes until your eyes get accustomed to the darkness. PROCESS: Go to a really dark room and stand in front of the mirror.

Spark in the dark lifesavers