Salt and Pepper Science

No, not with them.

Yes, these ones.
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Whether you're investigating it in a classroom, or using it to irritate your brother, static electricity is a lot of fun. It seems almost like magic sometimes watching a little blue spark jump from your finger to another person's (makes you feel a little like a Sith Lord) or watch materials move seemingly on their own. 

For our Science class at Brock University, Amanda Walker and I demonstrated a motivational demo involving salt, pepper, spoons, and the wonders of static electricity. Kudos to Amanda to searching through some science experiment resources to find it. Here is the full demo outline with full scientific explanation of the demo and guiding questions you can ask your students throughout and after the procedure. Now you too can make pepper move seemingly by itself, right from the comfort of your home or classroom!  

Try with your students, or with your children when you're stuck inside on a rainy day. There is minimal clean up and it is a way to get kids interested in atoms and electricity.