Pour a small pile of puffed rice cereal on a piece of paper. Rub a piece of wool several times over a rubber rod to negatively charge it. Move the rod close to the pile of cereal but do not touch the cereal. Pour some of the puffed rice cereal from the pile into a gallon-size plastic bag, blow up the bag as if it were a balloon and put a twist tie tightly around the bag’s opening. Rub the bag with the wool. Rub the rubber rod and the bag again with the wool.
Rub a rubber rod vigorously several times with a piece of wool to negatively charge it. Place an empty, dry soft-drink can on its side. Do not touch the can with the rod as you move the rubber rod slowly toward the can until you notice the can move. Move the rod slowly in different directions to make the can move. The neutral soft-drink can will be attracted to the excess electrons on the rubber rod.
Tear a piece of tissue paper into small pieces. Rub an acrylic rod vigorously several times with a piece of silk to positively charge the rod. The acrylic rod is positively charged and the silk is negatively charged. Move the acrylic rod close to the pieces of tissue paper. The neutral tissue paper pieces will be attracted to the extra positive electrons on the acrylic rod and will stick to the rod.
You will need two acrylic rods, some thread and a piece of silk for this experiment. Find the middle of one of the acrylic rods and tie one end of the thread around it. Vigorously rub the rod with the silk several times, but do not move the thread. Hang the rod from a hook or thumbtack stuck in the underside of a cabinet. Rub the second acrylic rod with the piece of silk. Slowly move the second rod toward the hanging rod. Because both rods are positively charged, they will repel each other.