Static Powered Neon Lights

Become a static detective as you uncover sources of energy with the glowing neon light. Just scrape your feet across the floor and watch the neon light flicker. It's a human powered light that is both safe and inexpensive. Recommended for children ages 8 and up.

The Static Powered Neon Lights works best in drier climates. Humidity helps to prevent static electricity from forming, so you might have work a little harder to build up a charge if you are in a high humidity area.

What's included?

• Classroom pack of 30 neon lights
• Activity Guide

How does it work?

The lamp contains a tiny amount of neon gas. The wires attached to the lamp are attached to two tiny electrodes inside the lamp. When a high voltage electrical current passes through certain gasses like neon, the gas gets excited and begins to glow. Many advertising signs use glass tubes filled with various gasses that produce light of different colors. For example, an orange glow is almost always produced by neon. When the glass tubes are filled with argon instead of neon, a pale blue glow is produced.

What does it teach?

You might want to consider making this a discovery session. Tell the kids that static electricity is generated by friction (things rubbing together). Talk about scraping your feet on a carpet and producing sparks when you touch something else like metal or another person. Discuss the crackling sound that static electricity produces when you brush your hair, or when you rub a balloon against your hair. Contrast the subtle sound created by these man-made static sparks with the sound produced by lightning (another form of static discharge produced by friction in the atmosphere).

Now, give each of your students one of the neon lights and tell them that the light is supposed to flash when it detects a static spark. Allow the kids a few minutes to experiment on their own. See if anybody discovers how to make the lamp flash. If there are no successes after 3 to 5 minutes, give them some clues about how to hold the lamp (see presentation tips) for best results, and let them try again.

Things through which electricity flows very easily are called “conductors,” and things that block the flow of electricity are called “insulators.” The bare wires are good conductors, but if you cover them with an insulator, the sparks will be harder to produce. Many non-metal things will work well as an insulator. Try materials such as tape, paper straws, a rubber eraser, and etcetera.

Have them record their results: What did you see? What color was the flash? How bright was it? How long did it last? What happened when you covered one of the wires with an insulator? What happened if you tried to produce flashes while holding onto both wires at the same time?

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