Bendy Water

Here’s a science experiment you can do in your own kitchen! All you need is a plastic comb.

Go to the sink and turn on the water. Adjust it to a thin stream. If it breaks into drops, it’s too thin.

Run the comb through your hair several times. What you’re doing is charging it with static electricity.

Hold the comb close to the stream and watch how it pulls the water!

Don’t let it touch! If it gets wet, it won’t charge again until it’s dry.

Here’s a video on how it looks. They used a plastic ruler (rubbed with a wool sweater) which works just as well as a comb.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zvBORMRMe8

After you bend your water, leave it running in a thin stream for one more experiment that has nothing to do with static electricity.

Put your finger in the stream and move it slowly towards the top of the faucet. When you get about an inch away, watch the water suddenly turn into round beads above your finger!

This happens because of the force that holds water molecules together, called surface tension. We used that property of water with the experiment we did with a bowl of water, soap, and pepper.  You can find that one here.