Hair-raising lessons at Golspie High School
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Golspie High School has invested in a hair-raising piece of equipment, thanks to funding from the parent council.
The school has bought a Van De Graaff generator which generates static electricity by using friction.
A classroom classic, The generator uses a moving belt to accumulate electric charge on a hollow metal globe on the top of an insulated column.
And demonstrations of how it works are always popular with pupils thanks to its hair-raising side-effect.
If a person holds the dome, they too will become charged and the individual hairs on their head will to stand out and spread away from each other.
Pupils taking part in the experiment, are always safely insulated from the ground by standing on a plastic tray,
A school spokesman said: “It is hugely beneficial to have a tangible demonstration of static electricity as it can be a tricky concept to visualise.”
“We also do demonstrations passing a very small static shock along a group of pupils and we look at tin foil/foil containers repelling each other.
“The pupils are always very engaged when we are demonstrating with the Van de Graaff and it’s a really fun lesson to do!
“We are hugely grateful to Golspie High School Parent Council for all its support and for the donation which enabled the school to purchase this piece of equipment.”
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