Chaff

Okay kiddo, so imagine you are outside playing with your friends and ghosts are chasing you. You want to hide so the ghosts can't find you, right? Well, you might throw some confetti or tiny pieces of paper in the air to confuse the ghosts and make it harder for them to see where you went.

That's kind of like what chaff is. Instead of ghosts chasing you, chaff is used to confuse radar systems that are trying to detect planes or missiles. Chaff is made up of tiny pieces of foil or plastic that are released into the air from a plane or missile. The chaff reflects radar waves back to the radar system, making it hard for the system to see the plane or missile.

So, just like how the confetti you threw confused the ghosts and made it harder for them to find you, chaff confuses radar systems and makes it harder for them to see planes or missiles. Pretty neat, huh?