This week, our Primer students explored static electricity through a special science experiment.
With multi colored tissue paper hearts spread on the table, we posed a question to the students: "How can we make these hearts move without touching them?"
Although there were many educated guesses, the students were stumped. We then blew up a balloon and rubbed it on our hair for about 30 seconds. The balloon was placed above the tissue paper hearts and carefully moved around so the hearts rose up.
We discussed that invisible electrons with a negative charge build up on the surface of the balloon when you rub it through your hair. We shared how the invisible electrons with a negative charge can pull very light objects with a positive charge, such as the tissue paper hearts, towards them.
The students enjoyed each taking a turn making the hearts dance and seeing their classmates' hair stick up - all while learning an important science lesson.