Pop Can Race

How can you make an empty pop can roll the greatest distance without touching it?

My hypothesis:

I would rub a balloon with cloth and do the same to the pop can, then put the balloon behind the pop can and hope that it would move.

I will test my hypothesis in the science classroom.

My observations:

The can only moves when you rub the balloon on your head or with cloth. The can gets attracted to the balloon somehow and slowly moves towards the charged balloon. It doesn’t move with anything but the balloon.

Conclusions:

The best combo was rubbing the balloon on your hair/wool and then putting it in front of the can.

What combinations worked best? Why do you think they were effective?

The combination that worked best was rubbing the balloon on your hair/wool in one place. This was effective because the statically charged balloon pulled the pop can towards it.

What combinations were the least effective? Why do you think this is?

The least effective combinations were rubbing the balloon with wood, plastic, metal, straw or glass. I thing that these materials did not work like the balloon and wool/hair combo because they couldn’t produce a great enough charge