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From: JeffersonLab
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  • can you do this with liquid nitrogen

  • @tnt1237 Nitrogen isn't polar, so it won't be deflected by a charged object.

  • @jeffersonlab: Does water temperature affect how much the water bends?

  • @MescalineDaydreams Probably. The hotter the water, the more the molecules are moving around and the more likely it is they can be knocked out of alignment. Try it and see!

  • So thats why so many people are attracted to blonde hair!! LOL

  • Jefferson lab I really like your videos because i want to be a scientist when I grow up thanks for helping me towards becoming a scienctist

  • @jeffersonlab would it work if you had two bags of hydrogen and mixed them with one bag of oxygen?

  • @TheFindip Not if it stayed as a mixture of hydrogen gas and oxygen gas (which is not a very safe mixture to have). It's the structure of the water molecule that makes this work. Just putting hydrogen molecules next to oxygen molecules doesn't do it.

  • i have i question does it do the same thing happen if u do that to a diffrent drink i wil have to try it

  • @landllymhar If it's polar, it will work.

  • You guys do pretty good, but just a suggestion, the cold cuts thingy intro is a little annoying.

  • can you that with mist?

  • @CleverMiner It'll work, but you'll have a much more difficult maintaining a charge on whatever object you are using.

  • i done this at science :D

  • My 8 year old saw this and wants to make a public fountain that bends the water back and forth between pipes as the water falls. Van De Graaff generator might work, perhaps? Great video, btw, despite the lack of LN2 :-)

  • oh thanks you really helped me out but how did you build that sturcture

  • @landllymhar It's just a ring stand that happens to be sized correctly to hold the cup by the rim.

  • thanks

    

  • I can guess what the result would be, but..

    replace water with liquid nitrogen - profit?

  • @Razer1103 Nitrogen isn't polar, so it doesn't work.

  • Are you a wizard?

  • Wow no liquid nitrogen!!!

    

  • will i get shocked if im on metal?

  • @lawlzombeh It depends. If the metal is insulated from the ground, no. If it isn't, yes.

  • how you can schock somewone

  • @niceboy848 Charge yourself and then touch them.

  • i do that at my sink with a comb...

  • why don't the water molecules just rotate so the positive hydrogen molecules face the negatively charged comb?

  • @arnob1 They do. That's exactly what we're saying at the 1:00 mark.

  • @JeffersonLab Oh I see. That makes sense.

    Do you know why the effect is only temporary? Is there some mechanism in the comb that causes it to lose charge?

  • @arnob1 The loss of charge on the comb is primarily due to water vapor in the air. It's attracted to the comb just like the stream of water is. When a water molecule gets close enough, it can grab an electron from the comb. Then, the water molecule is no longer electrically neutral and is repelled by the negatively charged comb. This process continues until the comb is no longer charged.

  • it whont work

  • how do I know which objects cab hold a charge?

  • @superkooliodude20 Any object can be charged. The extent that it can be charged depends on what is being used to charge it. Search for 'triboelectric series' for a listing.

  • @JeffersonLab alright, thanks ya'll!

  • yall are  awesome continue with the experiments

  • you sould try a plasma ball with rubber and w/e else you can find

  • awesome i tried it it really works

  • @TheBueno789 it would take about 10 9v batteries to kill you if they were right out of the package and all connected together. The volts doesn't kill you alone it's the volts and amps combined. Volts is the potential you could have 1,000,000 Volts and it wouldn't kill you but if you have 50 volts and 40Mili-Amps and 5 kΩ of resistance on skin will be the starting point of giving your heart a shock and potentially killing you. Where Did I Get This Info You Ask? << Pro Electrician.

  • Cool

  • @TheBueno789 lmaoooooo

  • Oxygen is more electronegative than hydrogen, so it tends to attract the covalent electrons toward itself much stronger than hydrogen. In a water molecule, the hydrogen atoms are partly positively charged because of the oxygen. The oxygen atom is partly negatively charged. This is what gives rise to the so-called hydrogen bonds between water molecules. A similar thing happens if a hydrogen atom is bonded to a nitrogen or fluorine atom.

  • @AndromedaChao2 In the case of water, the other important factor is the shape of the molecule. If water were linear, like CO2, it wouldn't be polar. The fact that there's a positive part and a negative part isn't enough. The charge distribution has to be asymmetric.

  • @JeffersonLab of course! Symmetry of the molecule matters. Thanks for reminding me. And obviously ammonia molecules are polar too because the 3 hydrogen atoms are on one side of the nitrogen atom and the nitrogen atom's nonbonding pair of electrons are on the other, giving rise to the molecule's polarity

  • @TheBueno789 Nope. That won't kill you. Where did you get that idea from?

  • Can anyone explain the concept of how rubbing creates static electricity?What happens with those electrons?

  • @otamanlvhs Rubbing doesn't create static electricity, having two dissimilar materials in contact with each other does. Some electron transfer from one material to another. The item that loses electrons becomes positively charged while the item that gains electrons gets negatively charged.

  • @otamanlvhs Rubbing the items together does help the items get in contact with each other. But, the transfer of electrons isn't a frictional thing.

  • Question:  Is there an equal amount of force pulling on the object?

  • @deets101 Yes. The charged object pulls on the water stream and the water stream pulls on the charged object. The forces between the two are equal. Newton's third law in action.

  • @JeffersonLab "The forces between the two are equal. Newton's third law in action."

    When the forces are equal, nothing should happen.

  • @MucusFelidae You can't push on something without having that thing push on you by the same amount.

  • Yessss!!! It worked!!! Thank you soooo much! :D I put the balloon higher up on the stream, thinned the stream, and used my dad's hair. :) Thank you!

  • Hi! So I had a homework assignment to try this out tonight. I love your video, and I've been trying everything, but nothing works! Any ideas? I've tried balloons, pens, combs, rolling around in a snuggie on the carpet.... :P Any ideas?

  • @HazelEyedMysteryGirl Styrofoam cups usually work well. If you have a wool sweater, or a cat, try rubbing it on that. Also, you only want a trickle of water and you want to hold the charged object up near the faucet (it's easier to deflect the water when it's moving slowly). The weather also plays an important role. If it's humid, it doesn't work as well.

  • @JeffersonLab Thank you so much for responding so quickly and helping me! I'll try this soon. :) Thanks again!

  • @HazelEyedMysteryGirl Good luck!

  • i tried the plastic pen and rubbed it on my head and it didnt work.

  • @johnkane455 Try a different pen. Or a different head. Eventually, you'll find a combination that works.

  • if something was charged enough would water stick to it? like a ballon on your head?

  • @TheNachoMuncher If you could prevent charge from being transferred to (or through) the water, yes. You can try this yourself. Put a little puddle of water on a table and place a charged object right above it. You'll see the water form a little hill under the object. Get the object close enough and the water will bridge the gap. Then, what happens in practice, is enough of the charge on the charged object is lost through the water and the little hill collapses.

  • nice i like d experiment :) :) !!

  • oh lawd

  • yes im a water bender.......lol jk

  • awesome :)

  • @TheBueno789 It very well could have been if you have one of the old CRT-type TVs. They tend to collect a charge on the front surface of the glass screen. It wouldn't be overly hard for it to discharge through your earbud wire and into you.

  • I just wonder, are human beings a portable battery, i mean. How's possible that we conduct electricity. Hope you can answer my question.

  • @kaelfergen We conduct electricity largely because of the dissolved salts that are in us. Pure water doesn't conduct electricity but, add a little salt, and it does.

  • @JeffersonLab Thank you so much guys for answer my question. Keep up the good work and i can't wait to see more videos. =)

  • great video!!! keep them coming!!!!

  • mickey mouse, how cute ><.This is a fun experiment

  • Would a battery work?

  • @cityofbones0 Not well.

  • so if something is positively charged will it move away from the object?

  • @superkooliodude20 No, the water will always move towards a charged object. If the object is positively charged, the water molecules will flip the other way so that their negative ends are closer to the charged object. You still get a net attraction. You can tell that an object is charged by deflecting the water. You just can't tell what the sign of the charge is.

  • both of u do it at the same time

  • Oh... thanks that helped a lot! thank you!

  • I've been rubbing all the items on my head and nothing works

  • okay.. sorry but i've been trying everything a balloon two combs and i cant get anything charged what do i do now?

  • @hypnotize3311 How have you been trying to charge the items?

  • @hypnotize3311 No offense, but I assume that your hair is clean? If it's not, it doesn't works so well. It also won't work well if it's humid. Don't know where you are now, but it's fairly warm and humid here today, but I'm able to make my pen pick up a little scrap of paper after wiping the pen in my hair a couple of times.

    How are you testing to see if there's charge? The more details, the better.

  • you dopes!! this isn't working and my project is due tomorrow! 

  • @hypnotize3311 Not exactly the nicest way to ask for help.

  • How Do You Make The Water Cup Stand Up What Is Holding(Supporting) It??

  • @FelinaRocks It's being held by a ring stand. The lip of the cup is just the right size to not fall through the ring.

  • lol i could get a use of this..you know..like waterbendingXDD

  • Get a bunch of charged items to make water get from one place to the other by just floating.. Profit.

  • u really helped my partner and me with am idea for our project

  • Great way to trick people into believing you are a wizard. lol

  • Now i am confused if a leyden jar can be charged up to lethal voltages, and execute animals like in ben franklins experiments, or charge a capacitor, and then when shorted will spark into the case and pit the metal from the discharge. we no longer call it static? we have super bolts of lightning that happen out at sea that are rated at one hundred milliion amps, and scientist for years have been looking for a way to save that spike. as usuable energy. but here we call it useless. ?

  • @advthinker No one is calling anything useless. As a matter of definition, a static charge isn't moving. A static charge is just that - a collection of charges that aren't moving. As soon as it starts moving, it's no longer a static charge.

  • Once had a tv set that would put out a large charge of static when turned on, and one day tried a experiment. a eye droper would drip in front of the crt. and when the set was turned on one of the drops did a ninety degree turn and shot across the room and splated on the wall! now thats power! now i want to know if a battery like in a car can be charged up! after all static is ionic, and batts work off ionic exchanges? Franklin charged up layden jars and killed pigs, so why cant we charge a bat

  • @advthinker Well, by definition, static charges aren't moving. So, technically, no, they can't be used to charge a battery since you need an actual current to do that. Once static charges start moving, they are no longer static.

  • thanx you guys saved me! I made this as my school project in a competition with static electricity and I won thank you sooooo much you guys are great and you thought me a lot

  • i dont got a project w8 ow **** awesome im in group 8 in my base school and we go camping and i can use it in a project im gonna make!

    THX!

  • this ROCKS thanks a LOT it helped me with my project

  • You said it works because water is polar. But everything is electrical. Shouldn't it also work with non-polar molecules, like cooking oil?

  • @pameslinkoln Everything has charges, but the way the charges are arranged makes all the difference. If the molecule has a symmetric charge distribution, this won't work. Polar molecules have what's called a 'dipole moment.' Non-polar molecules don't. In essence, non-polar molecules don't have an electrical 'direction.' They don't know which way to turn in response to an electric field. We'll redo this with oil at a later date.

  • Thanks a lot. This video helped me a lot in my project.

  • @MrSuperadithya Glad we could help!

  • I want to ask does the rate/time of water stream to finish dripping get affected when the charged pipe/insulator is put next to the stream while we keep the distance of the burette to the bowl and the ml/amount of water in the burette same? Also, I wonder if it would take a longer time for the water to finish dripping as it would probably go a longer path for it to drip to the bowl below it...hope you can help me answer these questions :D

  • @quadraticsequence Yes, holding the charged pipe under the cup does cause it to drain slightly faster since there's an additional force helping it to empty. And, since the water is forced to take a longer path when it falls, it takes a bit longer to fall than it normally would.

  • Thank you

    

  • I have a Question about my Term Paper. what is the best Problem that easy to explain about static electricity?

  • @demz56 Not really sure what you mean. Maybe you could explain static cling?

  • ☼►Polar molecules are not the primary reason why the falling water is attracted to the dielectric properties of the PVC pipe. Rather all matter in the universe is made up of atoms, which in turn, house the electron. Electrons emit a natural gravitational field which pulls/attracts any and all other known matter in the universe, including light itself. Though the water contains polar molecules is not the primary reason why the water bends. Thus you have baloney in your incomplete report.

  • @iBetYouDidnt No, it's exactly because water is polar and we put a static charge on the PVC pipe. This is simple enough for you to test on your own.

    And, electrons aren't the only particles with a gravitation field. ALL matter does. There's nothing special about the electrons in this regard. If gravity were really the cause of the deflection, it would deflect regardless of the charge on the PVC pipe. You could put a brick there and get a deflection. Try it out and see what happens.

  • What is actually happening with the fields here? I tried deflecting water with a speaker magnet but had no effect. Is it something intrinsic about the static electricity or do I need a much stronger magnet?

  • @TheResidentSkeptic A magnet isn't electrically charged, so you won't get much of a deflection out of it. If the magnet is strong enough, you could end up deflecting the stream of water away due to water's diamagnetism.

  • Why is water repelled by a magnet?

  • @TheReasonWhyGuy Water is diamagnetic. Diamagnetic materials become magnetized opposite the direction of the applied field.

  • @JeffersonLab The question is then moved to... why are diamagnetic materials repelled by magnets.

  • @TheReasonWhyGuy It has to do with how an atom's or molecule's electrons interact with an external magnetic field. Every material is diamagnetic to some extent. There are other forms of magnetism (paramagnetism, ferromagnetism) that can exist as well and hide a material's diamagnetic properties. Diamagnetism is more obvious in atoms/molecules whose electrons are all paired. Do a search for 'diamagnetism' and you'll find lots of sites that can explain it more fully.

  • @JeffersonLab Thanks :)

  • I can get water to curve 180 and fly upwards for a small bit lol

  • i just felt like god for 30 sec.

  • will a credit card work? I charge it all the time

  • @161803 Ba-dum-bum!

  • I'm curious if I understand this basic principle...

    Water is bipolar, so the hydrogen end is attracted to a negatively charged object...

    So wouldn't this mean a positively charged object would attract the oxygen side?

    Thus meaning that the charge could be either for this demonstration to work?

    I assume getting a negative charge is easier :)

  • @TheReasonWhyGuy Yes, we cannot determine the charge on the pipe/balloon/pen by watching the action of the water. The molecule flips in the way that you describe and you always end up with an attractive force. Now, we (think we) know the charge on the PVC pipe from the Triboelectric series. We know that PVP is polyvinyl chloride and that skin is... skin. The series tells us that, between these two materials, electrons are transferred from skin to PVC.

  • My friend and me like to mess around with transformers from old junk. I will get the microwave transformer and remove the secondary and make high amperage at low voltage around 5-10 volts at 40-200 amps. My friend just wants the high voltage and I misread it is only rated 15mA not 150mA. This was one of the fastest YouTube responses I have gotten in a while!

  • @joblessalex Well, that's a factor of 10 better. It still makes me nervous, though. Also, 200 amps is a scary amount of current. The breakers on typical household circuits trip around 15 amps. 200 amps is up in the car battery range. What on earth are you powering that requires that much current?

  • @JeffersonLab YouTube was screwing up so that's why it took so long. I am planning on using it as a welder and just for fun to melt things it is a transformer so won't the current be increased through the transformer and not overdrawing from the house? If it does, explain why a microwave doesn't blow breakers. Is it a circuit or something?

  • @joblessalex Right, in a transformer you trade voltage for current and vice versa. Energy has to be conserved and power is equal to voltage times current. The time is the same so VI on one side of the transformer equals VI on the other side of the transformer. Comparing it to household current and the car battery just gives me a feel for how those types of currents are treated

  • @JeffersonLab It seems that the limit for amperage is somewhere between 30mA and 200mA from googling for many hours but still no definate answer. I guess no one really knows but still good videos! I'll just try not to kill myself. :)

  • @joblessalex Yeah, I think it's going to be hard to get a real definite answer for that. It's not as if they'll let us conduct the experiments to find out... Plus, there's going to be some variation between people.

  • Do you know what the lethal limit of amperage is for a 14 year old? I am going to get a microwave transformer and know I won't be safe, but my friend really wants to know if he is ok with 150mA at 24,000 volts. Thanks in advance!

  • @joblessalex I don't know the lethal limit for a 14 year old, but 150 mA @ 24,000 V seems high to me. That works out to be a 3.6 kW supply. That's the same power draw as 36, 100 W lightbulbs. I personally wouldn't want any part of that going through me.

    What is it that you are trying to do?

  • Ok thnx....Is there an easy way to give water a charge???

  • @WalkingFish1 You'll need to break the water into drops first. Sometimes, just breaking the stream into a mist is enough to give the drops a charge. Otherwise, you'll need to add charge by 'spraying' it in using something like a Van de Graaff.

  • How would you repel water???

  • @WalkingFish1 Using charges like this? You'd have to give water a charge and then make it go by something with the same charge.

  • Is this what happens in a microwave oven except at a much higher frequency?

  • @Nomoreidsleft Yes! Exactly!

  • Try making water go UP with static electricity, it would be a challenge....

  • would salty water be different (i.e. using sea water)

  • @AlgerianShame It should still do the same thing. Try it for yourself and let us know what happens!

  • can you make it go the other way (you put the pvc pipe at the right and the water goes left)??

  • @vincethemachine The water will always be attracted to the charged object. Place a charged PVC pipe to the right of the water and the water will be deflected to the right. Place a charged PVC pipe to the left of the water and the water will be deflected to the left.

  • great!

  • could this work at a MUCH BIGGER scale?

  • @supermega1111 It's hard to scale up too much because you'll eventually get arcing between the charged object and whatever's a convenient ground.

  • Does this work with steam? and can you make it repel from the rod?

  • @totallysickawesome Water molecules are polar. It doesn't matter if they are in a solid, liquid or gaseous state. They will be attracted to a charged object and then repelled by the charged object once they obtain charge from it. That's why you get shocked from static charge on dry days and not on humid days. Steam would behave like very humid air. The real trick would be maintaining a charge on the object you are using.

  • This is a simple, but intriguingly exciting demonstration. Well done :)

  • some guy i showed it to thought it worked with an ipod since it runs on electricity. turns out it blows up.

  • I LOVE doing this when my mom runs the kitchen sink

  • This is really cool! I just did the comb as well. Thanks!

  • So now we know static electricity bends water.

    Let's compare that concept with the arc of the covenant.

    Just like modern day nuclear reactors, the arc of the covenant was lined with gold inside and out as well as the lid.

    Gold is an excellent static capacitor.

    John Hutchison did an experiment and made a mock replica of the arc.

    It held an incredible amount of static charge.

    The true arc could have held trillions of volts.

    Walk that towards any body of water and the water will part around you.

  • Except, of course, the experiment shows that an electrically charged object attracts water. It doesn't repel it. So, a charged arc wouldn't have parted the Red Sea. It would have drowned the Israelites.

    Also, you don't find a lot of nuclear reactors lined with gold. Lead, maybe. Concrete, certainly. Not gold, though.

  • From what I see the water is repelled at one point then arcs around the peak of the static wave. Because the charge of the comb is so minuscule, the peak of the wave is very sharp. This could give the false impression that the water is attracted and not repelled. If you do a similar experiment with a large drop of water in a pan and use a plastic ruler or comb, you'll see the water is pushed away. In your experiment the water is at 90 degrees and follows the angle of the static wave as it falls.

  • Nope, it's an attractive force. You don't need to take my word for it. Do the experiment yourself. Place a drop of water in a pan, charge a comb (or a pen or whatever) and get it near the drop. It's easiest to see if you approach from the top and look horizontally across the surface of the drop. The surface of the water will bulge upward toward the charged object when the two get close.

  • Hmmm!!!

    Now I'm extra interested because I've seen an experiment with magnets rotating around a stator copper ring. There are coils on the outside of the spinning magnets to collect the energy as they spin and rotate by.

    After about 590 rpm, an eddy current effect takes place pushing the magnets away from the stator while freely spinning.

    The charge around the rim of the device is positive while the top and bottom are negative. When this device is near water, it repels it and creates divits.

  • Now I'm wondering what the difference is in the charge.

    I thought it was the static electricity around the device that repels the water, but it seems to be a different force or different charge.

  • Could someone tell me if distilled water conduct electricity or not??? because there's no ions in distilled water; right?

  • @1091Floyd21 Distilled water (essentially) does not conduct electricity. However, it is not true that distilled water does not contain ions. Some of the water molecules dissociate to form H3O+ and OH- ions.

  • it works! i tried it with the comb....

  • Awesome!

  • Does water have negative statics ? like instead of going towards the object it goes in the opposite direction ?

  • If you charge the water, you can make it repel from an object with the same charge. That's sort of what we're doing in our 'Static Electricity and Bubbles' video.

    In this video, the water is neutral. The water molecules have an uneven distribution of charge, though. It doesn't matter what charge the pipe of balloon has. The (neutral) water will always be attracted to it. If you want to be able to repel the water, you have to give the water a net charge.

  • I see , thanks for the info :)

  • is static electricity the same thing as alpha radiation?

  • No. Static electricity is an imbalance of electrical charge. Alpha radiation results from a specific type of radioactive decay. You can create static electricity fairly easily, as seen in the video. You only get alpha radiation when certain isotopes undergo alpha decay.

  • how come my body gives off static eletricity? every time i wear a certain type of clothes (not sure what type) for a while, when i remove it and place near someone's hair their hair raises! how does this happen? and why?

  • Usually, when two different materials come into contact with each other, one material tends to gain electrons from the other. For example, when polyester comes into contact with dry skin, the polyester will grab electrons from the skin. The polyester becomes negatively charged and the skin becomes positively charged. For a list of how things get charged when they come into contact with each other, do a Google search for 'triboelectric series.'

  • what kind of pipe?

  • PVC - polyvinyl chloride. It's the white plastic pipe you find in the plumbing section of home improvement stores.

  • guys i tried my best to get this to work but no luck , only with a plastic pen but only move a little but its nothing compared to what the pen did here ):

    what are good conductors and what materials conducts ?

    ps how can i make my body negatived charged ?

  • Try using a styrofoam cup or plate. Rubbing it on your head should give it a pretty good charge.

    The weather also matters. If the air is humid where you are, static experiments are hard to do and objects don't hold their charge for long.

    In general, metals are good conductors. For this, though, you really want an insulator. That's why plastics (PVC, styrofoam, etc...) tend to work well.

    If you want to charge yourself up, walking across a rug will work. You'll need a Van de Graaff for more.

  • so why dont you put water in between two electrodes one positevily charged second negatively charged and create large charge by using a van de graaff gen. slitt water to hydrogen and oxygen and get nobel and free us from oil addiction!!! cheers from poland wojsciech

  • But it could be said in reverse, that the water could be pulling on the plastic but there is nothing to hold back the water like a hand or body.

  • Yes, Newton tels us exactly this in his third law. The balloon exerts a force on the water, so the water exerts an equal but opposite force on the balloon. But, the balloon is attached to Joanna and Joanna is more or less attached to the earth. Since Joanna's mass is so much larger (no offense, Joanna!), it's harder to observe the effect of the force of the water pulling on her. It's there, though. It's just hard to detect.

  • That's awsome I Never seen anything like it

  • Cool stuff. I've always been curious if it's possible to create static electricity in water itself...

    For example: say if I moved my hairy arm to staticly charged water would it make my hairs stand on end

  • In our experiment, the balloon was charged, not the water. We used the charged balloon to flip the water molecules in a particular direction, but they remained neutral. You could charge your arm and make it deflect the stream of water, but it would be very difficult to do it the other way around.

  • Sweet first video I've watched where I already knew what you were talking about! I feel smart now lol.

  • While Joanna was speculating that the pipe was negatively charged you turned the model such that the electrons were facing the pipe.  Does that mean you consider electrons to be positively charged? I know the idea of positive or negative is purely cosmetic, but I'm curious if this was a mistake or if your usage of negative and positive is reversed of that which I was taught in my course work.

  • The clay model was trying to represent a water molecule. The red things are the hydrogen atoms, not electrons. In a water molecule, the hydrogen end is positively charged and the oxygen end is negatively charged. That's why we were faci