Static Electricity

On March 5th we were introduced to static electricity.  We watched how when there is a build up of electrons on an object such as a balloon, we can observe objects attract to it and repel from it.

 After rubbing the balloon with fleece, the little pieces of paper easily attracted to the balloon. The negative charge of the balloon and the positive charge of the paper attracted. Opposite charges attract!

In the picture below a student rubbed a balloon against his shirt. It then became negatively charged. The negative charges of the balloon are repelling the negative charges of the water molecules.