MINNEAPOLIS — When someone touches something and gets shocked, it's awkward and a bit painful. What causes static electricity? And what actually happens when you get shocked? Visitors of the ...

What is static electricity and what causes it? Static electricity is created when there’s an imbalance of negative and positive charges that build up on an object.

Door handles, taps, playground slides, furry pets… Getting zapped by static electricity is a common experience. But the physics that causes the spark is surprisingly intricate.

The first documentation of static electricity dates back to 600 BCE. Even after 2,600 years’ worth of tiny shocks, however, researchers couldn’t fully explain how rubbing two objects together ...

What is static electricity (SE) and how is it associated with indoor conditions? SE is a form of potential energy, which is different from the kinetic energy of flowing electrical currents.

Jan. 9 is National Static Electricity Day. All things in the universe are made up of atoms. These atoms have a positive charge in their center, or nucleus, and negative charged particles, called ...

It's that time of year, at least where I'm currently at, where static electricity becomes an issue and I have to pay attention to it. Without a humidifier, the indoor humidity levels crater into ...

Oddly, it’s powered solely by static electricity, there is no battery here and the resulting injury is no worse than touching a door knob after scooting your socks around on some shag carpet.

Rubbing two balloons together leads George to a shocking discovery. If you rub two identical balloons together, they both pick up a static charge. This strange and unexpected behavior has been ...

Another day, another zap. Understanding the physics of static electricity can help you not get static shocks quite so often.