Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Collecting Pollen With Static Electricity



One of the interesting facts we read about bees, this week, is that the little hairs on their bodies build up a static electric charge, that attracts pollen to them, as they fly over, and land on flowers.


That sounded like something we needed to try out for ourselves. C (age 8) took a balloon outside, rubbed it on her head (to produce a static charge), and then passed it over a dandelion (coming close to the flower, but not touching it).


And, sure enough...


...it worked.  There was pollen on the balloon.


I don't know about you, but we thought it was pretty cool.
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9 comments:

  1. PhyllisApril 15, 2015 at 2:01 PM

    Way cool!

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  2. UnknownApril 15, 2015 at 6:22 PM

    That IS cool!!!!!

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  3. maryanne @ mama smilesApril 15, 2015 at 10:18 PM

    I love static electricity experiments, and this pollen one is very cool.

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  4. LucindaApril 16, 2015 at 3:54 AM

    Genius!

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  5. UnknownApril 16, 2015 at 6:32 AM

    What book did you/she read that in?

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  6. Sue WhitsonApril 16, 2015 at 7:58 AM

    Awesome! Shared it on my FB page! https://www.facebook.com/almostunschooling?ref=bookmarks

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  7. An Almost Unschooling MomApril 16, 2015 at 8:02 AM

    reb andy - I want to say we came across it on a number of websites, but looking back I'm finding the clearest reference to it on a New Dimensions episode from Amazon instant view, entitled Mystery of Disappearing Honeybees. About 4 and half minutes in, they put up a chart detailing the bee, and that is one of the facts they mention.

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  8. TiciaApril 17, 2015 at 5:46 AM

    Okay that is really cool. I had to sit and decide if it should be in my botany board or my flying creatures board.... Oh the decisions.... the decisions.

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  9. UnknownApril 17, 2015 at 6:10 AM

    Thanks, we'll check this out and do the experiment!

    ReplyDelete

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