During the winter months, static electricity can build up and cause a shock when we touch a piece of metal or someone else. You can actually feel, see and hear the spark jump from your body or see it when you rub two cotton blankets together. But what happens to cause that shock and zap and why is it worse in the winter?
First you have to understand atoms, the things that make up all matter. Do you remember high school physics? The nucleus of an atom has neutrons and protons (positive). The shell is made up of electrons (negative). When the number of electrons and protons are even, the atom is neutrally charged. If there are more electrons, the atom is negatively charged. More protons, it’s positively charged.
Some atoms want to keep their electrons, while others will give them up when they
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Recently, I was at the Oklahoma Science Museum for a book signing and to present a science workshop to Oklahoma teachers. When I was in town, I also stopped by local news station KFOR to share some of my favorite science demonstrations. No matter how many times I tried to put anchorwoman Linda Cavanaugh at ease, she was still hesitant to conduct 50,000 volts of electricity or help me with a wildfire demonstration.
My boys make guest appearances on TV with me occasionally, but this week I brought my 3-year-old nephew Cody to help demonstrate how people conduct electricity. If you’ve ever watched kids going down the slide at the park, you’ve seen static electricity at work. When the kids reach the bottom of the slide, their hair is standing on end. As the child slides down, the electrons gather around their head and cause their hair to rise.
Cody is a character and was ready for his television debut. We practiced a little before heading out to the station. Cody didn’t want to take my cues, especially when I said, “Hey Cody, who’s our special guest today?” He just smirked and told me he wasn’t going to “say the word.” I tried, his dad and mom both tried,
Static electricity demos are a staple in every science teacher’s bag of tricks, but this science demo was different than anything I had ever seen. The Fun Fly Stick was first introduced in Europe and made it’s way to the U.S. earlier this year. It’s an ingenious, battery-operated static electricity generator that allows you to float these cool tinsel shapes on a cloud of electrons. Watch the video to see what I mean…
Okay, so how does it work? The electronic circuitry inside the handle of the device is actually a negative ion generator. Just press the button for few seconds to generate a negative static charge. Drop the tinsel shape onto the stick to quickly transfer the negative charge to the tinsel… and the darn thing floats! This reminded me
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