Experimenting with Static Electricity

Today we learned about static electricity. Students rubbed cloth on a balloon to build up a negative charge on the balloon.

Then we put some puffed rice on our desks to see if the balloon would attract them. If the rice had a positive charge, it would be attracted to the balloon.  If the rice had a negative charge it would repel.  Here is what happened!

Then we had some fun experimenting with our own hair!