Video Credit: Shia
Static Electricity is electricity at rest, or the accumulation of electric charge. If you remember our electroscope experiment, one piece of adhesive tape was quickly pulled from the back of another piece adhesive tape. During the procedure, both were placed next to each other and if you remember the result, the 2 tapes are attracted to one another because they both have different charges. That is static electricity.
So right now, we are going to come up with a very fun experiment for kids, and adults, too! We are going to make electrical “fleas”!
What you need:
- A piece of bond paper
- Acrylic plastic or any clear plastic (about the size of the bond paper)
- 4 2-inch thick books
- A piece of wool cloth
- Fleas: aluminum ceiling glitters, rice grains, puffed rice cereal or bits of Styrofoam or colorful paper
What to do:
- Place your bond paper on top of a flat surface. Place 2 thick books on the sides of your paper so that it stays put.
- Place the plastic on top of the 2 books and top it with the other 2 books to keep it in place.
- Place your “fleas” between the paper and the plastic.
- Get your wool cloth and rub the plastic vigorously. See the fleas fly.
The plastic and the “fleas” were electrically neutral during the beginning of the experiment. When you say electrically neutral, it means that the positive and negative charges are equal. When you rubbed the wool cloth on the plastic, the wool passed its electrons to it, making it negatively charged. When the plastic gained electrons, the fleas were attracted to it, which made them stick on the plastic. When the plastic and fleas were stuck together, the fleas gained extra electrons making both the plastic and fleas negatively charged, and therefore repel each other. The process circulates over and over again, making it seems like the fleas are jumping around.
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