STEM Discovery Day at Atlanta Girls School

Atlanta WIE STEM Outreach activity – Atlanta WIE visited the Atlanta Girls School’s 6th grade STEM class with a Van de Graaff generator to discuss chemistry and static electricity.

We started by discussing atoms as the building blocks of matter, and then discussed the make up of atoms (electrons, protons, neutrons) and how static electricity is made when electrons move from one material to another, leading to a build up of charge. We then put the VdG generator together and demonstrated how similarly charged particles repel one another, first via stacked aluminum pans (placed on top of the VdG globe, which flew off one by one once enough charge had built up on each pan), and then by having people touch the globe (while standing on an insulated step stool) and watching the strands of their hair stand on end (as well as those of a pompom held in their hand).

3254 Northside Parkway NW , Atlanta, Georgia, United States, 30327