WHAT YOU NEED

• Balloon 
• Metal spoon 
• A volunteer’s head 

WHAT TO DO

1. First, inflate the balloon.
2. Find a room that you can make completely dark.
3. Get your volunteer to stand inside the room with you.
4. Rub the balloon over their head.
5. Now, turn off the light and touch the spoon to the balloon.
6. Did you see that spark? You made lightning!

WHAT IS HAPPENING

Want to see lightning without the shock? In this experiment, you can see how charges build up in a cloud, with negative charges at the bottom. This causes positive charges to build up below, on the surface of the Earth. Eventually, the two opposite charges build up enough to attract – and you get lightning! The spoon is the cloud, and the balloon is the ground!