Static Electric Motor

This is a motor made from some pop bottles and aluminum foil and powered by electricity traveling through the air. Construction is simple, bottle (1) on one end is charged by corona discharge from a piece of aluminum foil attached to it and pointed toward the Van de Graaff. The bottle (3) on the other end discharges current that reaches it through a similar bit of foil pointed away. Between them is another bottle (2) that is free to turn and has vertical stripes of foil on it. The stripes are charged by corona from yet another foil electrode attached to bottle 1. The stripe takes on the same charge and so is repelled and moves away, another takes its place, and the process repeats. Charge is removed from the stripes at the other end by another piece of foil attached to bottle 3.

To be clear, none of the aluminum foil electrodes touch anything other than the air and yet there is enough power for the motor to spin nicely. For more fun with science go to www.science-fun.org