Spectrum Scientifics Blog

The Fun Fly Stick is a great science toy we picked up this year. It is essentially a small Van De Graaf generator (you may remember those from science class - the big ball machines that made kids hair stand up from static electricity). This little Fun Fly Stick generates a much smaller charge, but that charge is enough to let the stick ‘levitate’ pieces of mylar.

We have one of these out in the store and play with it on occasion. It never fails to elicit stunned surprise. Many folks try to guess at how it works: “is it shooting air?” “magnets?”. No, the device simply works using static electricity - the same stuff that makes your socks stick to your sweaters also repels the mylar shapes and makes them float. We like to joke that the Fun Fly Stick is as close to a magic wand as you can get.

Here is a good video of the Fun Fly Stick in action.

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Filed under: Physics, electricity