Poco Opolis 500

Here is our video lab of the poco opolis 500 experiment to do with static electricity.

To start off, our purpose. The point of this experiment is which materials when rubbed together ten times will create enough static charge to attach small pieces of paper to it.

We have conducted three parts of this experiment; one with wool, one with silk and one with fur. We will commence with the wool.

The independent variable is what the stick is made up of, the dependant variable is small pieces of paper and the controlled variables are wool and the amount of times we rub the two materials together.

Our hypothesis was that when we rub the materials against each other, glass will have the most friction with wool.

The first step in this experiment was to find all our materials. We used wool, and then ebonite, copper, aluminum, plastic, wood, glass, Lucite and acetate, as well as the small pieces of paper. We then one by one tested each rod/material with wool by rubbing the two objects together. We then put the rod a couple cm above the pieces of paper to see if the static charge picked them up. We tested that with each rod/material, but only lucite was slightly affected, with a small flinch in the materials. On a scale of 1-10 it was about a 0.5.

Results: From this experiment, we found that wool was very unreactive and did not hold a lot of static charge.

The most important finding is that only Lucite did anything and it was barely a flinch. Another important finding was that that none of the others were reactive. We also when rubbing it with copper, we didn’t manage to rub it the full 10 times so that might have had an affect on it.

For our conclusion, wool and Lucite when rubbed together create the most static charge. We found that wool didn’t create a lot of a static charge.

Our hypothesis was incorrect, as glass and wool when rubbed together did not create any static charge.

Further questions are;

If a carpet creates static electricity when we walk on it with our socks, how come it didn’t react with any other materials.

Now we will talk about our experiment using silk.

The independent variable is what the stick is made up of, the dependant variable is small pieces of paper and the controlled variables are the silk and the amount of times we rub the two materials together.

Our hypothesis was that Silk and Aluminum when rubbed together would create the most static charge.

The first step in this experiment was to find all our materials. We used silk, and then ebonite, copper, aluminum, plastic, wood, glass, Lucite and acetate, as well as the small pieces of paper. We then one by one tested each rod/material with wool by rubbing the two objects together. We then put the rod a couple cm above the pieces of paper to see if the static charge picked them up. We tested that with each rod/material, but none of the materials created any static charge. The paper had no reactions with any of the rods.

Results: Silk is very non reactive and did not create any static charge when rubbed together with another material.

The important findings are that nothing created a static charge.

For our conclusion, none of the materials rubbed together with silk were reactive. Our hypothesis was incorrect, as Silk and Aluminum when rubbed together had no static charge, and was not the most reactive. A question we have is w why there was no charge whatsoever; was it something we did or something to do with silk?

Lastly, we will be testing out fur.

Our hypothesis is that when fur and Lucite are rubbed together it will create the most static charge.

The independent variable is what the stick is made up of, the dependant variable is small pieces of paper and the controlled variables are the fur and the amount of times we rub the two materials together.

The first step in this experiment was to find all our materials. We used fur, and then ebonite, copper, aluminum, plastic, wood, glass, Lucite and acetate, as well as the small pieces of paper. We then one by one tested each rod/material with wool by rubbing the two objects together. Next, we put the rod a couple cm above the pieces of paper to see if the static charge picked them up. We tested that with each rod/material, but only lucite and fur was affected. It had a much bigger reaction that previous times, and picked a fair amount of small pieces of paper. On a scale of 1-10 it was about an 8.

Results: When fur and Lucite are rubbed together they create a static charge.

Important findings: Only Lucite and Fur created static charge, and no other materials when rubbed with fur were reactive.

Results: When fur and Lucite are rubbed together they create a static charge.

Our hypothesis was correct. A further question we have is; I am curious to know why fur reacted so well with Lucite but not with anything else.