Static Electricity

www.sciencemadesimple.com...

So we all know how static works right, so i have all ways been one for holding a decent charge no matter what time of year it is, i can normally shock anyone at any time i want. Now for the last 4 to 6 weeks it seems as though my charge is starting to hurt people.
My wife wont let me touch her with out discharging, The kids run. Now its that bad i went shopping the other night and a lady of say 30ish brushed past me, though 2 layers of clothing "cold here" i shocked her that bad she yelped and said what the fu#$. gave me a angry look and stormed off. I all ways thought it was cool creating sparks via static but its starting to annoy people, My wife said she was going to sow a rubber strip to the inside of my jeans. not cool

The Question is, is anyone else experiencing a larger charge then normal.?

I'm not sure a rubber strip would do anything... you might consider a safety pin though?

And to answer your question, I, personally, have not experienced a larger charge than normal. Or any charge lately. Did you possibly change the way you wash your clothes recently? That does it for me sometimes..

Where I'm at there's too much humidity for static to be an issue, it's very much related to the environment.. if there's not enough moisture in the air then you're more likely to experience static shocks!

That's a big reason why large data centers have humidifiers to keep the risk of static charge down..

Get a humidifier

reply to post by MrFake
nop have not changed anything in living style at all, and its winter here.

reply to post by Legion2024


Static tends to increase in the winter as well, the air has less moisture for one thing and running the furnace also causes increased static ..

reply to post by Legion2024


Up your humidity, and if you wear synthetic materials it makes it more pronounced. Do you wear some fur with another synthetic poly material? concider this...

The triboelectric effect (also known as triboelectric charging) is a type of contact electrification in which certain materials become electrically charged after they come into contact with another different material and are then separated (such as through rubbing). The polarity and strength of the charges produced differ according to the materials, surface roughness, temperature, strain, and other properties.

Thus, it is not very predictable, and only broad generalizations can be made. Amber, for example, can acquire an electric charge by contact and separation (or friction) with a material like wool. This property, first recorded by Thales of Miletus, suggested the word "electricity" (from William Gilbert's initial coinage, "electra"), from the Greek word for amber, ēlektron. Other examples of materials that can acquire a significant charge when rubbed together include glass rubbed with silk, and hard rubber rubbed with fur

Your best bet is to run a stainless steel braided strap running from the bottom of your shoe to your wrists. That way the charge is shorted. You could also try to run a tesla coil in reverse and see how many watts you output.

When it is cold weather, the air is more dry. That increases static electricity.

When it is warm weather, the air is more humid. That decreases static electricity.

reply to post by gift0fpr0phecy

Yeah the thing is it have never been this bad, in all my years of zapping people. anyway a bit strange

make sure to discharge yourself before fueling your car. ya know with the gas prices so high you dont want your cash to go up in flames lol


Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

I knew that the x-men were real......They call you ELECTRO .....

Those dam TPTB caught lying to us again....

Where does the potential exist? Between you and Earth? Do you get a spark/shock etc when you touch a tap or metallic water cooler etc?

If so, a bleed resistor might help. Funnily enough I joked about this to my girlfriend yesterday. I make her touch me before she kisses me as we often get a shock. Maybe a resistor with a Meg Ohm or 2 value through your shoe between your foot and ground. I suggested a wand with the resistor in series. Use it to drop the voltage over a couple of seconds to equalise potential.

You may have trouble explaining this to people............ I swear I'm not a weirdo wannabe wizard, it's a bleed resistor to allow potential to drop so people won't get zapped when the touc...........

Doesn't matter...........

I get zapped lately whenever I touch a metal door handle, or railing, or anything metal really. Never used to get zapped so often. It is winter here but it has also been raining, so who knows. Don't think there's anything really unusual about it. I think some people do have natually a higher charge than others, perhaps you are one of those people. Although I do not know if this fluctuates over time.

I find this so funny.
but you must be going through hell.
how old are you?
did you chandg clothd or diet?
has some thing upset you?
can we use you as a power supply?

yeah anything i touch that conducts zappp.. and i no longer put fuel in the car you know fuel and the whole spark thing. This is something i have been aware of since i was young but the last 6ish weeks its been bad, and as for making power that's just to funny but I'm am going to go out and buy some LEDs to have some fun with the kids. and I'm 34 location South Australia, Ok the wife pointed out that 12 months ago we did move address and now live at a higher altitude could that have something to do with it

Use neon bulbs or the flash tubes in disposable cameras. LEDs will burn out if you zap them.

I want to bump this thread because I am suffering badly from this now. Started a couple weeks ago. Here's the main problem. I am starting to get burns on my fingers. I am terrified to touch anything I KNOW will give me a shock & usually ask one of the kids or the hubs to turn this or that on or off for me...My husband witnessed the major burn I got from the spark of 'the shock' & he said it looked like lightning going from my finger to the item...Happens when I get in and out of my car also. I am looking for some really good solutions because it is effecting me in a negative way. I am almost to the point of wearing rubber gloves full time...Help please...

reply to post by j.r.c.b.


Rubber won't help and will actually make it worse if used as extra insulation because it can cause you to develop an even higher static voltage (the inevitable discharge will hurt even more when it happens). I get a real blast when getting out of the car on a cool windy day because a car is a steel box mounted on insulators (the tyres) and when in the car you acquire the same potential as the car body. Stepping out of the car while touching a metal part of the door (like the handle) makes you a short circuit around the tyres to ground. What I do is make sure that as my foot hits the ground, my lower leg is up against the door sill so the discharge doesn't hurt nearly as much as one that passes through my entire body (say hand to foot). Stepping out quickly, then touching the door to close it will give me a hell of a shock so taking it through my foot and ankle only is far better.

You can still get anti-static straps for cars which are conductive rubber or rubber with some wires embedded that dangle from the rear bumper just touching the road. These used to be sold as 'car sickness preventers' and they continuously discharge any static buildup (not sure they do anything for motion sickness though).

You could apply the same method as mentioned above IE some sort of conductor through your shoes to ensure you are always at ground potential so there's no way you could acquire any charge. Thick rubber or synthetic soled shoes like running shoes are very good insulators so wearing those will ensure the worst shocks. The conductor through the soles need only be a single near invisible thin piece of copper wire to work well.

Barefoot is best to avoid static shocks but not always practical.

Thank you Pilgrum...Your full of good ideas, now back to re-reading your reply more carefully & taking notes..TY again...

This topic reminded me of an interesting phenomena that happened during the dust bowl in the 1930's. These giant sandstorms would kick up and the friction of the sand would generate massive amounts of static that made life fairly miserable.

The generated electricity got so bad that people wouldn't even shake hands because there was a good chance you would zap eachother pretty good. People wouldn't touch their cars or kitchen cooking pans without hesitation. It got to the point where they were dragging metal chains behind their vehicles to keep them from shorting out.

There were even report of people seeing electricity sparking along barbed wire fencing.

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Now to solve your particular problem, what you need to do is use lotion on your skin. Particularly moisturizing lotion after you shower.

You also need to avoid synthetic clothing. Wear cotton or other natural fibers. Get rid of the silk boxers.

And during the winter months when the air is extremely dry, you might consider using a humidifier.