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Electricity Science Fair Project

Static Electricity and Jumping Cereal

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Static Electricity and Jumping Cereal | Science Fair Projects | STEM Projects
Can you make cereal jump off a table without touching it? Static electricity (a buildup of electric charge on a surface) can pull lightweight objects through the air. You scatter Rice Krispies on a table. Then you balance a plexiglass plate on wooden blocks a few inches above them. Rub the top of the plexiglass with a wool sweater. The rubbing builds up a negative charge on the plate. The cereal pieces slowly stand on end and then leap upward to the plate. They stick briefly and then fall back down. The jumping happens because opposite charges attract each other.

Hypothesis

The hypothesis is that the Rice Krispies will jump from the table to the plate when a static charge is generated.

Method & Materials

You will place the Rice Krispies on the table, balance the plate of plexiglass over the table and Rice Krispies, and then rub the top of the plexiglass with the wool sweater.
You will need a hand full of Rice Krispies, a plate of plexiglass, wooden blocks or other non-conductive materials, and a wool sweater.

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Results

The experiment showed that when a static charge was generated, the Rice Krispies stood up and jumped from the table to the plate. This was due to the buildup of static charge, which caused the Rice Krispies to polarize and be attracted to the negatively charged plate.

Why do this project?

This science project is unique because it shows how static electricity can be used to make Rice Krispies jump.

Also Consider

Experiment variations to consider include using different types of cereal (see video #3), stale Rice Krispies (see video #2) and moist Rice Krispies to see what causes the Rice Krispies to lose attraction to the static charge.

Full project details

Additional information and source material for this project are available below.

Related videos

These videos explain the science behind this project and demonstrate key concepts used in the experiment.
Wouldn't it be fun to make Rice Krispies 'dance' to a song?
At the video's end, it was intriguing to see that even stale Rice Krispies were still drawn to static electricity. An experiment to determine the limit at which they lose this attraction would be fascinating.
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