Tape is one of the most universal tools in today's society. We use it to keep things together, be a guide for painting, and we can use tape for a science experiment to understand friction! In this week's weather kids experiment, Meteorologist Reece Cole teaches students from Ms. Tonneberger's classes at South Olive Christian School. Together, they work to make one side of tape positively charged, and another negatively charged to see what happens when they collide!
Here's what you need:
1) 2 plastic cups
2) A few pieces of regular tape
3) Completely dry surface to place cups, as well as place and remove tape.
Here are the steps:
1) Place the two cups upside down a few inches apart from each other.
2) Place one piece of tape on the counter with the sticky side down, and your finger underneath on one end to easily lift the tape back up. Rub this piece of tape with your finger back and forth aggressively for 20 to 30 seconds. This builds up the charge on the non-sticky side of the tape!
3) Quickly lift this piece of tape and tape it to the 2 cups to form a bridge with the tape.
4) Grab another piece of tape and quickly repeat Step 2 to build the charge once again!
5) Lift the tape up as you are following Step 3, but instead turn the tape upside down, meaning the sticky side facing toward the ceiling. Move the non-sticky side of tape over the piece of tape between the two cups. This piece of tape should repel from the bridge piece and be floating!
6) If you can, try to un-stick your finger from the floating piece of tape for an extra effect with the 2 tapes repelling!
Why does this second piece of tape float when turned upside down? Well, Friction and static electricity are why. Both pieces of tape were rubbed with your finger on the non-sticky side. This means both had the same type of charge, and those do not mix. If you were to flip one of the pieces over, the non-sticky side would want to touch the sticky side of the other piece, similar to a magnet having a positive and negative side!