Voltas Hail Storm

Place small bits of aluminum foil, pith or vermiculite in the cylinder and bring the upper plate near the generator. Then watch the particles bounce: first to the upper plate, but once they touch it, they receive a charge that causes them to bounce violently in the other direction! With the lower plate grounded, the charge will be lost when the particles again reach the lower plate, and then the process will repeat. You can even demonstrate precipitation of smoke with this novel approach.