In 4th grade science, we have been learning about electricity and magnetism. Last week, on one of our few sunny days, the students blew up balloons and learned about the concept of static electricity. They were quite excited (because how often do you get to play with balloons) as they walked around with balloons stuck to their heads! The next day, we discovered that negative and positive electrons were responsible for all of that static. At first, your hair and the balloon begin with a state of neutral electricity. As you rub the ballon on your hair, negative electrons from your hair are passed to the balloon, giving the balloon more negative electrons and making your hair positive. Like charges attract, so the balloon sticks! As we finished our investigation, I said, "So, I guess if you are having a bad day, you need to lose some negative electrons to turn it into a positive." Right then a student piped up, "Or if you are having a bad day, you should just rub a balloon on your head!!" I think they got it!!
Playing with batteries, wires and lightbulbs!! So fun!!