Static Experiments

It's the perfect time of year here to experiment with static and balloons!  I got the idea as I watched baby D toss and turn in his crib the other night: spark, spark, spark!  E's hair has also been a static flyaway mess and we've been shocking each other accidentally when we touch!  Time to do some purposeful activities with the static.

First we discovered how our hair would stand up if we rubbed a balloon on our head then slowly lifted the balloon up.

E was amazed that the balloon would also stick to the wall after being rubbed on our heads.  I asked her what was holding it there.  "Tape?  Glue?  Magic?  No!  It's static electricity!"

We used a hole punch to make colorful confetti and held the charged balloon above those.

Repeating this several times, we loved how the paper would stack on top of each other to reach for the balloon!

I asked E to make a prediction or hypothesis about what might happen if we held a charged balloon up to water running out of the faucet.  She didn't think it would stick to the balloon.

It didn't stick, but if the flow was low enough it did bend towards the balloon!  

Introducing our science journal, I asked E to draw her favorite experiment of the four we tried.  She picked the balloon with the water (but my personal favorite was the confetti).  She sketched it in her journal.

We used shared writing as she dictated most of what she wanted to document to me but wrote the final word herself with a cross between a question mark and an exclamation point!  

This post is part of the Saturday Science Blog Hop!  Check out these other science based posts:

I-Spy Snowflakes from P is for Preschooler

Icy Hearts Science Experiments from Little Bins for Little Hands

Melting Chocolate Kisses from Stir the Wonder