Movement & Forces: Static Electricity (ELECTRIC)

 

Everybody has been waiting for the arrival of balloons for science! 

See, here's the deal. I'm a mean mom. I can't stand balloons. They're made of rubbery plastic. Bad for the environment. They pop easily. Cause a lot of tears. Babies can choke on them. When the kids don't tie them off, there is always spit flying around the house. Come real close while I admit something to you, I don't naturally lean into fun.

The kids? They love them! Even the big kids squeal when they play 'keep it up' or 'hot lava' or let them fly willy nilly or hold the neck taut with that piercing noise or hold them against their backside while they deflate and flatulate! Or rub them on a siblings hair until it stands on end. The kids see them as 100% fun times. In my kids eyes, fun is THE curriculum.

So balloons for science sake is what happens around this house. I buy them in the name of science and pray the bag only lasts the day.

They worked wonders for our 4-in-1 static science. Rubbed on hairy heads and wooly felt, the static was all charged up and ready for learning!

Dancing Paper

Take some tissue paper or tracing paper and cut a tall shape. You can get artsy as you like in this step, but we kept it simple for science. Glue only the bottom of the shape to a piece of cardstock. Place your static charged balloon above the tissue paper and watch it dance!

Jumping Goop

We found this tutorial on Jumping Goop. We were out of oil, so we just tried with cornstarch and it worked beautifully. Charge well!

Bending Water

This tutorial worked amazingly well for Bending Water with a static charged balloon.

Black Toupee

This tutorial demonstrated how to make garbage bag streamers float in the air. We could never get a strong enough static charge (or perhaps our streamers were too heavy/too many?) So instead we charged them up and set them to stick on Mr. M's head, causing him to look like he was wearing a black toupee!

A similar one from Steve Spangler.

BALLOON BONUS

Not related to static, but definitely a cool experiment, my husband told us about a time he found a balloon with a message. A school had sent off the balloon with a request to connect with whomever found it. Thus, conducting an experiment on balloon travel.