Pepper Hair
Grade: 3
Strand: Matter and Materials
Topic: Magnetic and Charged Materials
Overall Expectations:
• Demonstrate an understanding of the properties of materials that can be
magnetized or charged and of how materials are affected by magnets or static
electric charges
Specific Expectations:
• Identify through observation pairs of materials that produce a charge when
rubbed together
• Describe or demonstrate how some materials that have been electrically charged
or magnetized may either push or pull similar materials
• Predict, verify and describe the interaction of two objects that are similarly
charged
Required Materials:
• 3 Inflated balloons
• Pepper
• Two paper plates
Procedure:
• Part 1 – Two negative charges
o Rub two balloons briskly against your hair (or a wool sweater)
o Ask the students what will happen if you try and touch the balloons
together now (they will repel each other because they have like charges)
• Part 2 – Positive and Neutral charges
o Pour some pepper onto two separate paper plates
o Use one balloon that has been rubbed against your hair (charged) and the
one balloon that has not been rubbed against your hair (uncharged)
o Ask students what they think will happen when you hold the balloons over
the pepper
o Touch both balloons to the pepper and slowly lift them up and observe
what happens (charged balloon will pick up the pepper but the uncharged
balloon will not)
Glossary:
Static Electricity – the buildup of either a positive or a negative charge in an object
Charge – basic principle of static electricity, can be positive or negative due to the
presence of extra electrons or the loss of electrons
Neutral – atoms that have equal number of electrons and protons, uncharged
Repel – objects of like charges move away from each other
Attract – objects of opposite charges move towards each other because one has extra
electrons (the negative charge) and one is missing electrons (the positive charge) so
they come together to share the electrons.
Theory Behind the Pepper Demonstration:
An atom is composed of protons and neutrons contained in the nucleus and
electrons orbiting around the nucleus. The electrons can move from one atom to
another, creating a positive charge in the atom that lost the electron and a negative
charge in the atom that gains the electron. Rubbing the balloon on your hair creates a
negative charge on the balloon because it causes electrons to move from the atoms in
your hair to the atoms in the balloon. It is not the actual rubbing that causes the
electrons to move, it is the contact between the two objects. Rubbing them just
increases the contact area between them.
The balloon now has a negative charge so it attracts positive or neutral atoms but
repels negatively charged atoms. When the two charged balloons are held near each
other they repel because both are negatively charged. When a charged balloon is held
over the pepper, the pepper is attracted to it. Pepper is neutral but if the balloon is near
it, the electrons in the balloon cause the electrons in the pepper to move away from the
balloon and that creates a temporary positive charge in the pepper and causes the
pepper to stick to the balloon because the balloon and pepper have opposite charges.
http://www.sciencemadesimple.com/static.html
Other Considerations:
** Safety concern – ensure students do not have latex allergies
• Could introduce the topic with a story about “Bob the Balloon” who would like to
have some hair to keep his head warm in the winter (i.e. pepper will be hair)
• Use students to demonstrate how atoms gain and lose electrons, one student
stands still as the nucleus and two or three students walk around the nucleus, set
up two atoms like this then have them move close together, one student acting
as an electron can then start “orbiting” (walking around) the other atom
• Ask students where else they see static electricity (i.e. walking across the carpet
then touching a metal object and getting a shock)
•
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Mel Jefferson
Callie Watson