- a plate (unless you want things to get messy)
- a straw
- and a piece of wool (we used our alpaca wool ball, which I'm happy to say is still around).
Mix some salt, and pepper together on the plate.
Rub the straw, up and down, with the wool, about 40 times.
Pass the straw over the salt, and pepper mixture, and watch the pepper jump out of the salt to the straw, and sides of the plate.
When you rub the straw with the wool, it creates an electrical charge on the straw. Both the salt, and pepper are attracted to the charge, but the pepper is lighter, and moves easier.
We found this activity in Lynn Gordon's Super Duper Activity Book. Unlike many of the books we've referenced lately, it is not specifically a science book, but a complete activity book, with more than 120 fun, arts and crafts, games, travel activities, and science experiments.
It's great to be a homeschooler.