Experiment Disclaimer

The soda can attractor!

Instructions

1. Blow up your balloon and charge it up the balloon by rubbing it vigorously on your sweater.

2. Lie the can on it's side and bring the balloon close to it... you may have to charge the balloon again.

3. Once the can starts to roll, see if you can make it stop and go the other way without touching it.

4. Try charging up other objects... will they attract or repel the can?

Back to electricity experiments

You will need:

- 1 balloon

- 1 empty (& clean) soda can

- A woollen sweater

Rubbing an object can cause it to build up an electrical charge in the object.
This happens because the rubbing action can make one object pass electrons to the other.
Which way the electrons travel is dependent on which materials you are rubbing together.

A loss of electrons makes an object positively charged,
a gain of electrons makes an object negatively charged.

Opposite charges attract, like charges repel. So how does the balloon and can work?

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