Yield the Powers of Thor at Home!

"Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will." - Karim Seddiki

Here are simple experiments at home that shows the power of static electricity. Learn the idea between opposite charges attract using common household items and figure out how you can use these items to control the movement of running liquids such as water!

Materials:

• 2 inflated balloons with string attached

• Any person's hair

• Aluminum can

• Woolen Fabric

• Plastic Comb(or inflated balloon)

• Water from a tap or a source of a narrow stream of water

• Dry hair(to comb)

Instructions:

1. Take the two balloons and rub each one against the woolen fabric. Try moving the balloons together and see what happens? How do they interact with each other?

2. Rub of on the balloons on a person's or your hair and then look what happens through a mirror when you slowly pull the balloon away.

3. Put an aluminum can on its side on a table. After rubbing the balloon on a person's or your hair, hold the balloon near the aluminum can. Watch what happens when you slowly move the balloon away form the can.

4. Use a plastic comb and run the comb through your hair normally about 10 times. If you are using a balloon, rub it against your head for a couple of seconds. Turn the water on so that there is a thin stream of water from the tap. Move the comb or the balloon towards the water and watch what happens.

Science Behind It:

• When you rub the balloons against your hair or a piece of woolen fabric, static electricity is created. This is the result of an imbalance between the negative and positive charges in an object. When you rub off of certain materials such as woolen fabric or your hair, electrons(negatively charged particles) are transferred. These negative particles jump to positively charged objects.

• The saying opposites attract is certainly true in this experiment. Your hair is positively charged and is attracted to the negatively charged balloon resulting in your hair to "rise" so that it can go to the balloon. This situation is similar to the aluminum can that is attracted to the balloon.

• When both balloons were rubbed against the woolen fabric, notice that they were not attracted to each other. This is because after being rubbed, they were negatively charged and we know that objects with the same charge are unattracted to each other.

• By combing your hair, you have built up static electricity. The electrons jump from your hair to the comb, making the comb negatively charged. The water technically has both positive and negative charged particles within it. Moving the comb near the water allows the positive charges in the water to be attracted to the negative charges in the comb resulting in the stream of water to bend towards the comb.