Static electricity on a person can discharge as an electric spark — on a pump handle, for instance — that can set fire to flammable material. To prevent fires at gas stations, ...

In addition to zapping you when you get in or out of a car, this type of static electricity discharge also presents a genuine, if extremely unlikely, safety concern every time you fill up your car.

You may think you know static electricity, but its true nature has long eluded scientists. We’ve now made a huge leap towards ...

This is due to built-up static electricity, which is an imbalance of electric charges between two things. That imbalance causes a discharge that feels like a physical shock.

Rubbing your hair with a balloon is a great way to demonstrate static electricity. Yavdat/Shutterstock From charge to discharge. Now, let’s take two surfaces with a difference in static charge.

“The static energy from a [combine] discharge ranges from about 10 millijoules (mJ) to 150 mJ in a single-discharge spark,” said Ben White, a research engineer for the Kondinin Group, an ...

Zaps of static electricity are commonplace in everyday life. But can static electricity give enough of a jolt to start a fire? Static electricity is the result of an imbalance between negative and ...

Static electricity is the discharge of electrons from one object to another. We can rub our tennis shoes on a carpet and from friction build up negative electrons.

Static electricity is harmless most of the time, but if you are electrically charged and touch something conductive, you pass that charge on. If you touch metal, you pass the electricity to the metal.

Answer: Static wicks are attached to an airplane to discharge static electricity. The static wicks—sometimes known as static dischargers—are often attached to the thinnest metal surfaces on ...