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Ever wondered if water can bend? This experiment will show you that it can, and it’s all down to science once again! You may want to try test this hypothesis when your hair is nice and clean; it takes a few minutes to conduct the experiment and the scientific explanation will make everything clear. This is better than magic, this is science.

What you’ll need:

- First and foremost you’ll need your hair to be clean and dry!

- A dry plastic comb

- An indoor tap

What to do:

This experiment is fairly easy and all you need to do is follow these few steps:

STEP 1 – Turn the tap on so you have a thin flow of water coming from the tap.

Step 2 – Use the comb to brush your hair approximately 15 times

Step 3 – Take the comb and place it near the flow of water. Make sure the comb NEVER actually touches the water and you’ll see that the water will automatically bend towards the comb!

What has happened?

By this time you’re probably wondering what has happened and how it’s possible for the water to change its course and bend towards the comb. When you combed your hair some of the tiniest parts that make up an atom, electrons, were collected. These electrons have a negative charge and attract a positive charge. Water is a molecule made up of two hydrogen atoms which are both linked to one atom of oxygen by a covalent bond. Due to this bond the electrons in the two atoms of hydrogen tend to stay close to the atom of oxygen giving it an overall negative charge whilst the hydrogen atoms take a positive charge. The positive charge of the water is attracted to the negative charge of the electron which makes the water bend towards the comb!

Reflect:

Now it’s time to experiment some more and reflect on what makes the experiment work. Will you get the same results when using a comb that isn’t plastic or by changing the heat of the water? Try and find out!

Another experiment:

If you want to see how negative and positive charges of atoms attract one another through state electricity with other experiments why not try substituting water for tissues! Break the tissues into tiny pieces and, after combing your dry hair 15times, place the comb near the pieces of tissue without actually touching them, you’ll see that, if the pieces of tissue are small enough, they will move themselves towards the comb!

IMPORTANT DEFINITIONS:

Atoms: Atoms are the building blocks for all the matter in the Universe.

Molecules: Molecules are formed when two or more atoms link together. Both atoms and molecules are so tiny you can’t visibly see them without a microscope!

IMAGE:         http://0.tqn.com/y/chemistry/1/W/H/o/bendwatercomb.jpg