Static electricity bending the flow

Let's take a look!

What type of experiment is this?

Experimental procedure and explanation:

• We bend the flow of water using static electricity.
• We rub the straw with tissue paper to accumulate the static electricity. At this time, negative electricity remains in the straw.
• Further, when placed close to the flow of water, the water is drawn toward the straw, thus bending the flow.
• This phenomenon occurs due to the properties of water. A molecule of water is composed of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom, and the two hydrogen atoms tend to shift to one side. As a result, the hydrogen atom side becomes positive and the oxygen atom side becomes negative.
• The positive electricity (charge) and negative electricity (charge) mutually attract each other.
• A straw rubbed with tissue paper possesses negative electricity, and when it is brought close to water, the positive side (hydrogen atom side) of the water molecule changes direction and is attracted to it. Conversely, the side that is farther from the straw is the negative side (oxygen atom side). The negative side of the straw and the positive side of the water mutually attract each other, and the flow of water is bent toward the straw.
• To address this, we can narrow the flow of water. Further, static electricity tends to accumulate when the air is dry and may not work well when humidity is high.
• The " Drawn in Spoon " is similar to this experiment. This bends the flow according to the Coanda effect when the water and the spoon come into contact. This experiment is non-contact and is caused by static electricity. Although the two are based on different principles, similar phenomena may occur.
• This experimental video was produced with the support of JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research 18K03956.

[Keywords]	Static electricity
[Related items]	Drawn in Spoon

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