extra credit

In the video, I used a charged balloon to make the water bend. This happens because as the balloon rubs against my head, it gains electrons from my hair. The rubber balloon is an insulator so all the electrons stay in one place and don’t spread around the balloon. The electrons cause a negative charge on the balloon. When the balloon comes close to the water, the positive charges in the water move closer the balloon because opposites attract. The negative charges move away from the balloon because like charges push each other away. This polarization of the water causes it to bend because the pull of the positive water and negative balloon is stronger than the repulsive forces of the negative charges.

static magic

In this picture, I wanted to see the effects of static electricity. I rubbed a balloon on my hair and put it on the wall and it magically stayed on the wall. I used friction to make static electricity. When I rubbed the balloon to my head, the friction that was created caused some of the electrons from my head jump to the balloon. Since the balloon isn’t a conductor the negatively charged electrons stayed in a concentrated area. The negatively charged area on the balloon touches the wall and all the positive charges on the wall want to come closer to the balloon and all the negative charges want to go away from the balloon. This causes something called polarization of the wall because now there are two different poles a positive and negative charge but the net charge is still zero.