6/11/2019 Static electricity for children | Wonderbly

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Practical lesson

We propose a very fun way to teach them what static electricity is. You will have to rub a balloon on your neck, deal with a very
negative jellyfish (a plastic bag) and a neutral sheep (an aluminum can). It is a super simple activity that you can do at home.
Thanks to our friendly collaborators, your little students will understand it easily. We're positive people (ahem), so we're sure you'll
love it.

You will need:

• A plastic bag
• An aluminum can (empty)
• A balloon
• Tape, markers and scissors
• A little thinking head

Gather all the material and call your assistants

Your laboratory equipment
Be careful with the empty can. Cover the opening with some tape to
prevent cuts from sharp edges.
Do you want to know the scientific explanation? Ok, let's make a
little introduction...
Everything you see is made up of atoms. An atom contains protons
(positively charged, they do not move), neutrons (neutrally charged,
they do not move), and electrons (negatively charged, they can
move between objects). Materials tend to have a negative, positive
or neutral charge depending on their composition.
And now, for a bit of fun, let's move on to our experiment.
Step 1: Create your neutral sheep
Aluminum cans have a neutral charge, meaning they have the same
number of protons (positive charge) as electrons (negative charge).
Decorate your aluminum can by painting a face with a positive (+)
and a negative (-) eye to indicate that its charge is neutral (the
positive and negative charges cancel each other out). You can wrap
it with paper, like we do, or paint the face directly on the surface of
the can. Beee .
Step 2: Create your negative jellyfish
Plastic bags usually have a negative charge because, since
everyone touches them, they easily pick up electrons. To make it
clear that it is negative, cut the bag so that it looks like a jellyfish
and draw a face with two negative (-) eyes, making it look like it
is in a very bad mood.
Don't be fooled by its smiling face... What the jellyfish really
likes is to be 100% negative.
Step 3: Load your bossy balloon some electrons, but if you rub it on your head it will pick up a few
more electrons. Now she's really negative... she's starting to get
Balloons have a neutral charge, but if you rub them on your head,
depressed.
they pick up electrons and become negatively charged.
So you can paint a minus sign on the balloon (-).
Then rub it well on your head (or on your clothes).
Step 4: Make sure the jellyfish is as negative as
possible
With how well-used the bags are, the plastic probably already has
Step 5: Take the neutral sheep for a walk
Place the well-charged bossy balloon near the neutral sheep and
slowly move the balloon away. You will see how the sheep
advances behind the balloon and follows it... it is so loyal!
The aluminum has a neutral charge and the balloon has a negative
charge, so they attract each other. How about we make more
balloons and some sheep? We can ask our shepherd boys to put the
sheep in the pen.
Step 6: Drive away the negative jellyfish
Ask your helper to rub the balloon and jellyfish to charge them
more. When they are ready, bring the balloon closer to the negative
jellyfish, put it under it and move forward: by doing this, the
jellyfish should swim away in terror since both objects have a
negative charge, so they repel each other. Tachan !
What have we learned?

That all objects are made up of atoms and atoms have different charges depending on the number of electrons (negative charge) and protons
(positive charge) they contain. Objects that have different charges attract each other (like the neutral sheep following the negative balloon).
While objects that have the same charge repel each other (our negative jellyfish hastily runs away from the negative balloon). Ah! and that
science is much more fun when we have the luxury of being able to count on the help of such funny characters.

Where does this idea come from?

Well... it's ours, from Wonderbly. We have a mission: for those crazy little heads to learn while having fun and, to achieve this, we create
beautiful personalized books, like The Boy/The Girl Who Lost His Name. Did you like our experiment? You can invent other similar ones
with the characters you like the most and share them on our Facebook page.