Sons School project-electrostatic attraction

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dardigity

Joined Feb 27, 2013
1
My son came up with his own science project separating good bird seed from the husks that his birds leave behind. He figured out that he could put the material onto a plate, blow up a balloon, rub the balloon on his head and use the balloon to attract the unwanted material.
For his science project he wants to build an electrostatic machine that he could pour the material into and separate it in the same way. I believe he could use a negative ion generator. I would very much like some input on this as I know almost nothing about safely designing something like this.
 

thatoneguy

Joined Feb 19, 2009
6,359
A small van DeGraff generator would be safest for generating static electricity.

A rubber belt with a comb on it, charges a metal sphere, check out wiki for how to build one.
 
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