Static Magic

Reveal your kids’ Jedi powers using static electricity with this episode of ExpeRimental from The Royal Institution of Great Britain. Watch ordinary household objects move without being touched as neuroscientist Professor Sophie Scott and her son Hector investigate:

By rubbing a balloon or straw on a cloth or their clothes, they make balancing pencils, pens, and spoons move without touching them! In these experiments they discover how things with opposite charges attract, and those with the same charge repel. They investigate whether the phenomenon will work with a variety of objects and even a stream of running water…

Try it yourself! The accompanying info sheet is here (pdf).

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This post was written by ianm