Bending Water

Purpose

To demonstrate how oppositely charged electrons can be used to bend water.


Additional information

Static electricity is the accumulation of excess electric charge where there exists poor electrical conductivity. Every day we interact and observe the effects of static electricity from multiple sources, none more so than the static created by our own bodies. When we brush our hair, rub our feet on the ground, or pull a wool sweater over our heads, excess electrons are created and cling to our body until they can be discharged. This phenomena occurs because all physical objects are made up of charges, which in turn are made from atoms consisting of protons (positive charges), electrons (negative charges), and neutrons (neutral). When a sustained separation of positive and negative charges occurs, static electricity is formed.


Sponsored Links


Required materials

  • Water faucet with running water
  • Latex balloon
  • Nylon comb

Estimated Experiment Time

Only a few minutes


Step-By-Step Procedure

  • 1. Inflate the nylon balloon.
  • 2. Turn on the faucet so that the water is coming out at a slow and steady stream. It's usually best to use a bathroom sink faucet as the nozzle can produce smooth jets of water at low output.
  • 3. Take the inflated balloon and rub it against the nylon comb to create a static charge on the comb.
  • 4. Slowly and carefully place the teeth of your charged comb next to the stream of water. As your comb gets closer, the water stream reacts by bending towards your comb!

Note

If you don't have a latex balloon, you can try charging the comb through other methods, such as brushing your hair or rubbing it against a wooly sweater. The key is to give the comb a charge of static electricity so it can cause the water to react.


Observation

How does humidity affect the outcome of the experiment? Do you think the same result would occur in an atmosphere of high humidity as it would in an atmosphere of low humidity? Do you think the material used would make a difference in the strength of the negative charge on the comb? What if the comb or the faucet nozzle were larger in size, would the experiment result in the same outcome?


Result

The stream of water running from the faucet actually carries a positive electrical charge. When the comb is rubbed against the balloon (charged) electrons form to create a negative charge on the comb. Much like magnets, the negative charge on the comb is attracted to the positive charge of the running water. When the charge is strong enough, it will pull the running water towards the comb, allowing you to bend water!

It's important to note that this experiment is best conducted in low humidity environments. When humidity is high, the atmosphere provides a conducting path for the rapid neutralization of static charge, causing the effectiveness to be greatly reduced.


Sponsored Links


Take a moment to visit our table of Periodic Elements page where you can get an in-depth view of all the elements, complete with the industry first side-by-side element comparisons!


Your email:
Your name:
Recipient email:
Recipient name:
Message:
 

Print this page   Bookmark this page  

Hide/View all projects Hide all projects Hide/View all projects

All Projects List

  • Accelerate Rusting
  • Acids And Bases
  • Additive Colors
  • Ant Microphotography
  • Apple Mummy
  • Balloon Rocket Car
  • Barney Banana
  • Bending Water
  • Bernoulli’s Principle
  • Blind Spot in Vision
  • Boiling Point of Water
  • Build an Electromagnet
  • Build an Inclinometer
  • Caffeine And Typing
  • Candle Race
  • Candy Molecules
  • Capillarity of Soils
  • Carbon in the Atmosphere
  • Checking vs. Savings
  • Chemical Metamorphosis
  • Clean Cleaners
  • Cleaning Oil Spills
  • Climbing Colors
  • Cloud Cover
  • CO2 & Photosynthesis
  • Collecting DNA
  • Colorful Celery
  • Coloring Matter in Food
  • Colors And Temperature
  • Composition of a Shell
  • Computer Passwords
  • Construct a Lung Model
  • Corrosiveness of Soda
  • Create a Heat Detector
  • Create Lightening
  • Cultivate Slime Molds
  • Cup of Lava
  • Dehydrated Potato
  • Desalinate Sea Water
  • Detergents and Plants
  • Dissolving in Liquids
  • Dissolving Solutes
  • Distillation of Water
  • Double Color Flower
  • Egg in a Bottle
  • Enzyme Activity
  • Eroding Away
  • Erosion Simulator
  • Evaportating Liquids
  • Expanding Soap
  • Exploding Ziploc
  • Extracting Starch
  • Fans And Body Temp
  • Fertilizer & Plants
  • Filtration of Water
  • Floating Ball Experiment
  • Floating Balloon
  • Fog Formation
  • Font and Memory
  • Food and Academics
  • Friction And Vibration
  • Fruit Battery Power
  • Full and Low Fat Foods
  • Galileo's Experiment
  • Gas To Liquid
  • Grape Juice & Cleaners
  • Gravity and Plants
  • Green Slime
  • Growing a Crystal
  • Growing Bread Mold
  • Growing Population
  • Haemoglobin Binding
  • Hard vs. Soft Water
  • Homemade Floam
  • Home-made Geodes
  • Home-Made Glue #1
  • Homemade Snowflakes
  • Home-made Stethoscope
  • Homemade Volcano
  • Homemade Windmill
  • Human Battery Power
  • Inertia of an Egg
  • Information and CD’s
  • Invisible Ink
  • Isolation of Bread Mold
  • Isolation of DNA
  • Jar Compass
  • Lemon Floaties
  • Levers And Force
  • Lift an Ice Cube
  • Light Colors and Plants
  • Long Lasting Bubbles
  • Magic Balloons
  • Magnified Light
  • Make a Compost Pile
  • Make a Fuse Model
  • Make a Parallel Circuit
  • Make An Elevator
  • Make Electric Circuits
  • Make Limestone
  • Make Objects Float
  • Make Static Electricity
  • Make your own sundial
  • Matchbox Guitar
  • Math and Gender
  • Mean, Median and Range
  • Measuring Air Pollution
  • Mentos Soda Volcano
  • Microbial Contaminants
  • Milky Plastic
  • Mini Greenhouse
  • Missing Reflection
  • Mixing With Water
  • Molls Experiment
  • Music and Plants
  • Musical Bottles
  • Nocturnal Plants
  • Ocean Life & Oil Spills
  • Ocean Temperature
  • Optical Mice
  • Oral Bacteria
  • Orange Water Volume
  • Organic vs. Inorganic
  • Osmosis
  • Oven Baked Ice Cream
  • Oxygen & Photosynthesis
  • Paper Bridge
  • Paper Marbling
  • Pascal’s Law
  • Play-Doh and Volume
  • Preserve Spider Webs
  • Pressure Volcano
  • Pulse Rates
  • Pythagorean Tuning
  • Refraction in Water
  • Rollercoasters & Loops
  • Rubber Bones
  • Rubber Heat Reaction
  • Rubbery Egg
  • Rust and Moisture
  • Search Engines
  • Secondary Colors
  • Seed Germination
  • Seed Germination II
  • Separate Salt And Pepper
  • Snappy Sounds
  • Soil Erosion
  • Soil vs. Hydroponics
  • Sound Waves
  • Spectrum through Water
  • Speed of Decomposition
  • Speed of Dissolving
  • Spore Prints
  • Star Observer
  • Static Electricity
  • Statistics and M&M’s
  • Stem-less Flowers
  • Super Strength Egg
  • Sweet Erosion
  • Temperature and CPUs
  • Thirsty Rocks
  • Tornado Demonstration
  • Translucent Egg
  • Transpiration in Plants
  • Typing and Speed
  • Vibrating Coin
  • Volcanic Gas
  • Water and Living Things
  • Water Displacement
  • Water Evaporation
  • Water pH
  • Your Planetary Age