Bending Water (Grades 3-5)

Did you know you can control water just like Aquaman?

male student using a balloon to bend water

Water is made up of trillions of tiny molecules. Each molecule has a positive and a negative charge. When a negatively charged object comes near the water, it will attract it, “pulling” the stream of water toward the balloon. In this activity from the NY STEAM Bus at Niskayuna CSD, kids can see the super powers of positive and negative charges in action!

What You Need

  • Balloon
  • Running water
  • Towel

What To Do

  1. Blow up your balloon and tie it off 
  2. Turn on the water in a small stream (not dripping) 
  3. Put your balloon right next to the water without getting it wet. Watch what happens. Does the water move at all? 
  4. Rub the balloon on your head. 
  5. Place the balloon near the stream of water again. Can you see the balloon bend the water?

Try this experiment with a few different sizes of balloons. What do you think will happen? Submit your response to this experiment at the NY STEAM Bus Summer Adventure page.