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This experiment comes from a suggestion made by B. Eschner. It started with his observations as he washed a plastic bag. It developed into a demonstration of water pressure, which then turned into a wonderful explanation of why things float. The more I played with it; the more I liked it. I hope you will have as much fun (and learn as much) as I did.
I really wanted to use the Electric Tape experiment for a video, but the sparks did not show up enough on tape. Until I can afford one of the new, super low light video cameras, we will have to get by with reading the text version. After the recent news articles about producing x-rays with adhesive tape, I thought it would be fun to do an experiment that would help explain how it works.
This experiment is a classic. If I had to pick the one science experiment that I have seen in the most science books, this now would be it. But it is also a very misunderstood demonstration. You will find that even many books of science experiments get the explanation for this one wrong.
This experiment is a result of quite a few e-mails that I have received over the years that I have been writing the Experiment of the Week. I hope that it will show some of the communication problems that can occur when scientists and "normal people" talk to each other.
I hope that you made your own Whistle Stick, and have been playing...., I mean experimenting with it. I also hope that you spent some time thinking about the science behind the sound that it makes, because that is what we are going to explore this time. For your exploration, you will need:
I was talking with a group of educators about demonstrations. The conversation led to an interesting discussion, and this experiment. It is one that we did back when I was a kid, and it is still fun.
