Static Electricity & Jumping Cereal
Great for early elementary students interested in electricity and magnetism, this fun science fair project from The Science Mom uses a common pantry item - puffed wheat cereal - to demonstrate the effects of static electricity.
Based on their composition, objects can be electrically neutral, positively charged, or negatively charged. Electrically neutral objects have the same number of positively charged protons and negatively charged electrons. However, because electrons can jump around while protons remain fixed, objects can also be positively charged (i.e. contain less electrons than protons) or negatively charged (i.e. contain more electrons than protons).
The concept, as demonstrated by magnetic poles, is that two objects with opposite charges will attract while two objects with the same charge will repel each other. This science fair project uses common household items to demonstrate the concept.
For the full list of materials, procedure, and project explanation, be sure to visit The Science Mom!
