Static Electricity - Science Play

A park slide + cute Little Mister = Bad hair day

The Science behind the play:

Everything we see is made up of tiny little parts called atoms. The atoms are made of even smaller parts. These are called protons, electrons and neutrons. They are very different from each other in many ways. One way they are different is their "charge." Protons have a positive (+) charge. Electrons have a negative (-) charge. Neutrons have no charge. Usually, atoms have the same number of electrons and protons. Then the atom has no charge, it is "neutral." But if you rub things together, electrons can move from one atom to another. Some atoms get extra electrons. They have a negative charge. Other atoms lose electrons. They have a positive charge. When charges are separated like this, it is called static electricity.
If two things have different charges, they attract, or pull towards each other. If two things have the same charge, they repel, or push away from each other.




So, sliding on the slide caused a positive charge to be built up on each hair. Since each hair has the same charge, they all try to push away from each other and end up standing up straight.