How did a slice of bread give me a shock?

January 10, 2007 6:35 PM

I recently received a static or electric shock from a slice of bread and I am curious how this happened.

I was making toast in my toaster over the other day and something odd happened. I set the timer and walked away, when the timer went off, I went to pull out the toast. I noticed the bread was not toasted, so I opened the door of the oven to see if it had warmed up at all. When I touched the bread I received a strong shock, similar to scuffing your socked feet on the carpet and touching something metal.

I was not touching anything metal at the time and it was slightly alarming. Recently we experienced issues with the breaker for certain kitchen appliances tripping, which never used to happen.

Is there any chance these things are related or may be a symptom of a larger problem...and on a basic level, how did I get a shock from bread? Is it somehow able to hold a charge?

posted by crystaleden to science & nature (6 comments total)

This is just a guess, but if the bread was touching the metal and the bread had any amount of moisture in it (for example, when you store bread in the fridge it often acquires some condensation) then it was the water that conducted the shock, not the bread itself.

However, your toaster over shouldn't be shocking you at all. It may have a short, which would explain some of the breakers in your kitchen flipping. Is it on the same breaker?
posted by Brittanie at 6:43 PM on January 10, 2007

It could have been grounded and you built up the static charge while moving around.
posted by wierdo at 6:43 PM on January 10, 2007

It is a possibility that I was carrying the charge, I oddly did not think of that. Would it matter that I was wearing rubber soled shoes?

As for the breakers flipping, the one we have issues with seems to control the coffee pot outlet, the microwave/toaster oven outlet, and for some reason my computer, which is in a different room but is plugged into an outlet on a shared wall. Over the last few months, if we run any three of these at the same time the breaker trips, which it never used to do.

Matters of electricity have always concerned me so if something is going on I would love to know.
posted by crystaleden at 6:50 PM on January 10, 2007

In an office space I used to work in, on days I wore rubber soled shoes, I would get a static-electric shock from touching one of the doorknobs often enough that I would swipe at it to discharge before grabbing it to open it.

So perhaps your rubber soled shoes are being similarly nefarious.
posted by ambilevous at 7:31 PM on January 10, 2007

I am not an electrician, but I don't believe this to be a static charge since you touched the toaster door first (that would have discharged the static) then touched the bread which produced the shock. I'm with brittanie that the moisture in the bread conducted the electricity. Given your breaker issues - I'd say you've got bigger problems. And I'd be calling an electrician or at the very least trying a new toaster.
posted by ranchgirl7 at 9:59 PM on January 10, 2007

Possible there was enough charge for a static to jump through the bread, to your fingertip? I'm not an expert, but I do work with plastics and get zapped a LOT.
posted by tomble at 1:48 AM on January 11, 2007