Dancing Paper Bunnies

Materials

• Copy of Dancing Bunnies
• A piece of thin Plexiglas® supported on two textbooks, or the clear plastic top of a take-out salad container
• Wool cloth
• Scissors

Background

This activity works for much the same reason as the What Will a Charged Balloon Attract? activity. The behavior of the paper bunnies will be similar to that of the Styrofoam pellets.

Plastic will collect some electrons from wool when rubbed and will become negatively charged. This negative charge will induce a positive charge in the paper bunnies. They will then jump up to the underside of the plastic. After a few minutes they may pick up electrons from the plastic and fall back down to the table.

Procedure

• Cut out the paper bunnies on the Dancing Bunnies page. Support a piece of Plexiglas¨ between two textbooks as shown so that the distance between the plastic and the table is about equal to the height of a paper bunny. Alternatively, you can place the bunnies under the inverted top of a clear plastic take-out salad container, which has its own supports.
• Place the bunnies under the plastic and rub the top of the plastic vigorously with the wool cloth. Continue rubbing for 2 to 3 minutes and observe what happens.
• What do the students predict will happen if you stop rubbing the plastic and wait for 10 or 15 minutes? What do they think will happen if you then rub the plastic again?