Getting sticky with static

Getting sticky with static

Have you ever received a static shock from jumping on a trampoline? Or touching a door knob? Experiment with static electricity at home!

Electricity is the movement of electric charges, which can be positive or negative. Have you heard before that opposites attract? Well it’s true for electric charges, as ‘opposite’ charges (a positive charge and a negative charge) attract to each other! When you rub a balloon against your hair, you’re moving charges around, and the result is that your hair becomes positively charged, and the balloon becomes negatively charged. Causing the balloon to attract to your hair and your hair to attract to the balloon!

Our Scienceworks challenge to you

Can you investigate to see if a balloon sticks to all objects you rub it against? Test out with different materials at home and let us know what you find! Handy hint: small water balloons work best!