Static Electricity Trials and Experiment
As with all static electricity demonstrations this works best when it is cold outdoors and warm and dry inside. It also works best when the students have dry hands because moisture in the palms dampens the effect.
Objectives:
Compare the charging power of wool to that of cotton, conduct trials to see patterns and draw conclusions.
Materials
A medium size balloon for each group of students (with a few to spare)
A large wool blanket or any large portion of wool
An almost equally large portion of cotton fabric (such as a blanket or sweater)
A bag of confetti
Paper plates for each student
Procedure:
Give each student a piece of white paper only a few square inches large. Sprinkle a generous amount of confetti on each page. When students charge their balloons they can pass them over the paper and see it swirl and move on the paper! Bits of the paper will fly up to attract to the balloon!
Focus the class and show them the wool article you have and the cotton article. Students work in pairs. One chooses to test wool and the other tests cotton. Each pair has a turn to charge their balloons and they return to their tables and each test their own confetti plate. The pair decides which they think works best. Each student writes the date and draws a picture of the trial. Focus the class and ask:
Which material charges the balloons the best? Does one material charge the balloons more powerfully than the other? Each student writes a conclusion in their journal, “In my test the wool worked better”