1. Static Race
Presented by: Heather Billiet, Candice Nearing, Tiffany Wood, and Ashley Biedenbender

2. Background Knowledge Everything is made up of atoms.
Atoms consist of a nucleus that contains a very tightly bound set of protons and neutrons.
Orbiting around the nucleus is an even smaller set of electrons. Protons have a positive charge, neutrons have no charge, and electrons have a negative charge.

3. Background Knowledge Cont.
Every element has different number of electrons, protons, and neutrons, making them unique.
When an atom has the same number of protons as electrons, then the atom is neutral and has no charge.
If an atom has a larger number of electrons than protons, than it has a negative charge and is called an ion.
If the atom has more protons, then it is positively charged.

4. Background Knowledge Cont.
When the air is dry, or when an object rubs against another object, it is possible to transfer electrons between these two objects.
When this happens, one object gains an electron, making it neutral or negatively charged.
The other object loses electrons, leaving it with a positive charge.
Materials that are especially prone to static charge are rubber, silk, glass, flannel, fur, and hair.

5. Background Knowledge Cont.
Static electricity is noticeable because of Coulomb’s Law.
This law states that objects of similar charge repel one another while objects with opposite charges attract one another.
When a balloon is rubbed against a person’s hair, the hair transfers electrons to the balloon, leaving the hair positively charged.
Because the hairs all have a similar charge, they repel one another, making the hair rise and stand up.

6. Procedure The students choose a balloon.
The students will choose a can and go to the starting line.
Students will stand on either side of the track.
The students will rub the balloon on their heads to produce static electricity.
When the teacher says ‘Go’, the students will race their pop cans to the end of the track.

7. Safety Precautions No Shocking other people. No popping the balloons.
The opening of the pop cans must be taped.
Only 2 people may race at a time.
While waiting, keep your hands to yourself.

8. Goals and Objectives
Students will describe how static electricity occurs.
Students will explain what happens when two objects of similar charges get near one another
Students will apply static electricity to everyday situations.

9. Mission Accomplished
The students were able to describe how static electricity works using the balloon and pop can as manipulatives in their explanations.
Students were able to show how objects of opposite charges attract one another using their balloon to race their pop can.
Students were able to relate to static electricity, by talking about times when they were shocked after sliding down a slide at recess, or when touching a door handle after sliding their feet on the carpet.

10. Methods and Madness
We found that when linking static electricity to something that happens in a child’s everyday life, they were able to comprehend the concept more readily.
The students remember hands on activities, and are more likely to retain knowledge as a result of that.
The students explored and tried to use different mediums to create static electricity.
The students were excited to receive the extension activity to further their fun with static electricity.

11. Reflection
If we were to do this activity again, would have had different materials readily available for students to explore using different mediums.
At the race track, we would have used more connections to ensure that the students understood how static electricity worked.
Having the race track away from the learning station, allowed the students to focus when hearing about how static electricity works.