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The water thread experiment is a reproducible phenomenon that occurs when two containers of water, placed on an insulator, are connected by a thread, then a high-voltage positive electric charge is applied to one container, and a negative charge to the other.

[edit] Effects

When the power is turned on, and one glass turns negative, and the other positive, the water in the positive glass is pushed along the thread into the negative glass, as charged materials always flow from positive (+) to negative (-). If the thread is very short, then the force of the water may be so strong that the thread will be pushed from the positive glass into the negative glass.

[edit] Causes

Because electricity, electrical charges and electrically charged materials (or, as in this case, electrically charged liquids) always move or flow from positive to negative (because an electrical current, from the positive terminal, flows to a terminal in which there is no electrical current, the negative terminal), the water, the electrically charged liquid, flows from negative (the "-" glass) to positive (the "+" glass) along the ony available path - the thread. The insulating material on which the two glasses are placed is used to stop the electrical charge running along the surface on which the glasses are placed, as opposed to charging the water.

[edit] Other methods

If this experiment can work with thread, there is a possibility that the same effect might occur with a thin string of neutrally-charged ionized air (if this is possible) - i.e. making a high-voltage electrical charge flow from the one glass (+) to the other (-) through a stream of ionized air. This would make it look as though an electrical charge was buzzing through thin air. The two glasses would still need to be placed on an insulating material.

[edit] References

• Beaty, William (1996). "Wasserfadden Experiment (Water threads)", www.amasci.com. Retrieved on 20 January 2007. 
• Hammond, Richard (2006). "Can you feel the Force?", Dorling Kindersley. Retrieved on 20 January 2007.