_Experiment in Static Electricity_.--Take a pipe--a common clay one
costing one cent--and balance it carefully on the edge of a goblet, so
that it will oscillate freely at the least touch, like the beam of a
scales. This being done, say to your audience: "Here is a pipe placed
on the edge of a goblet; now the question is to make it fall without
touching it, without blowing against it, without touching the glass,
without agitating the air with a fan, and without moving the supporting
table"
[Illustration: CLAY PIPE ATTRACTED BY AN ELECTRIFIED GOBLET.]
The problem thus proposed may be solved by means of electricity. Take a
goblet like the one that supports the pipe, and rub it briskly against
your coat sleeve, so as to electrify the glass through friction. Having
done this, bring the goblet to within about a centimeter of the pipe
stem. The latter will then be seen to be strongly attracted, and will
follow the glass around and finally fall from its support.
This curious experiment is a pretty variation of the electric pendulum;
and it shows that pipe-clay--a very bad conductor of electricity--favors
very well the attraction of an electrified body.
Tumblers or goblets are to be found in every house, and a clay pipe
is easily procured anywhere. So it would be difficult to produce
manifestations of electricity more easily and at less expense than by
the means here described.--_La Nature_.
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