electricityexperiments.txt

[ecks]

Statement: According to hotstud_xxx static electricity is generated when electrons are transferred from one object to another. An object with an excess of electrons is "negatively charged"; an object with a deficit of electrons is "positively charged." Objects with opposite charges are attracted to one another.

Hypothesis: Rubbing one object against another will transfer electrons and create reciprocal positive and negative charges on those objects, which will cause the objects to be attracted to one another.

Materials:
Woven cloth
Wool cloth
Leather
Fake cat
Paper
Wax candle

Procedure:
Rub Object A rapidly against Object B five (5) times.
Hold Objects A and B near each other.
Observe whether Objects A and B appear to be attracted to one another.
Rub Object A rapidly against Object B twenty (20) times.
Hold Objects A and B near each other.
Observe whether Objects A and B appear to be attracted to one another.

Data:
Set 1:

Object A: Woven cloth
Object B: Wool cloth
Result 1: Minimal attraction
Result 2: Minimal attraction
Observation: Crackling sounds heard during rubbing process

[And so it continues with various combinations of objects, all tediously faithfully documented. She must have spent a significant amount of time rubbing things together in order to gather all these vital data. The "fake cat" seems to garner the best results, and she abandons the systematic approach to instead document the process of rubbing said fake cat against walls, floor, and various fixtures of what House might deduce is a grocery store based on her descriptions.

That set of data ends with the following:]

OBSERVATION: Following experiment with Set 15, a minuscule bolt of lightning was observed to arch between the fake cat and the wool coat.

Hypothesis 2: Two objects with significant opposite charges will equalize those charges through a transfer of electric energy.

Materials:
Fake cat
Woven cloth

Procedure:
Rub fake cat rapidly against cloth many times.
Lightly touch fake cat to cloth.

Data:
Attempt 1: Fake cat touched gently to cloth following rubbing process. Minuscule lightning bolt not observed.
Attempt 2: Fake cat held near cloth following rubbing process. Minuscule lightning bolt not observed.
Attempt 3: Fake cat rubbed lightly against cloth...

[And on and on. She is eventually able to produce another spark, no doubt to her profound delight. And somehow -- possibly through a little padding, possibly through tricks of formatting, the report comes out to precisely five pages in length, double spaced.]