Static Electricity Tricks You Can Try

Invisible pulling power

Have you ever pulled off a woolly hat and felt your hair crackle and float up? Or felt a tiny zap when you touched a door handle? That is static electricity — an invisible pulling power you can make yourself. Let's learn some safe, fun tricks.

What is static electricity?

Everything around you is made of tiny, tiny bits too small to see. When you rub two things together, like a balloon on your hair, some of these bits jump across. This makes the balloon a little bit "charged." A charged thing can pull light objects toward it, like a gentle invisible magnet. (To learn about real magnets, see Make a Homemade Compass.)

Trick 1: Crazy hair

Blow up a balloon and tie it. Now rub it back and forth on your hair or a woolly jumper, about ten times. Slowly lift the balloon up above your head. Watch in a mirror — your hair stands up and reaches toward the balloon! The static is gently pulling each hair upward.

Trick 2: Sticky balloon

After rubbing the balloon, press it gently against a wall and let go. It sticks! The static charge holds it there. It will hang on the wall until the charge slowly leaks away.

Trick 3: Jumping paper

Tear up some tiny pieces of paper, smaller than your fingernail. Rub the balloon on your hair again, then hold it just above the paper bits. Watch them jump up and stick to the balloon, as if by magic. The static is pulling them.

Trick 4: Bending water

Turn on a tap so a thin, slow trickle of water flows. Rub a plastic comb on your hair, then hold the comb close to the water — but not touching it. The water bends toward the comb! The static pulls the water sideways. This is a brilliant one to show a grown-up.

Stay safe

These tricks use a tiny, gentle, safe static spark. But the electricity in wall sockets and plugs is completely different — it is strong and can hurt you. Never push anything into a socket. Static fun is for balloons and combs, never for plugs. Always ask a grown-up before you start.

Why does it happen?

When you rub the balloon, you move some of those invisible tiny bits from your hair onto the balloon. Now the balloon has extra and your hair has less. Things that are different in this way pull toward each other — that is what makes your hair float, the paper jump and the water bend. It works best on a dry day, because wet air carries the charge away.

So grab a balloon and a dry afternoon, and become a static scientist! When you are done, you might enjoy learning how scientists test their ideas in How to Be a Scientist: Observe, Predict, Test.