Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with staticelectricity

Will a static tinsel kit stop my treadmill from shocking me?

JanetLand — Tue, 06 May 2008 17:35:20 -0800

Has anyone used a static tinsel kit on a treadmill? I have a lot of problems with static electricity while using my treadmill -- I generally have to run with keys in my hand and touch them to the rail about every 20 seconds to discharge the buildup. Will this tinsel thing fix that? I can't seem to find much information about it.

Static Electricity Fries Garage Door Opener; Faraday Cage Protects?

coffeefilter — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 16:22:12 -0800

(Electronics) Is Static Electricity frying my garage door opener, and can a partial Faraday Cage protect it? In the winter, it is very cold and very dry. Very. Lots of static electricity.

I keep the garage door remote control opener in my jacket chest pocket. It lives there through the winter. To operate the opener, I don't take it out of the jacket pocket; I just press the button through the cloth. The jacket is some kind of synthetic. It crackles with static discharge when I take it off.

(1) Is static electricity harming the remote control? I've gone through a couple. (Alternate culprits might be extreme heat/cold cycles, getting tossed around, low-quality electronics, etc.)

(2) If so, would a partial Faraday cage, e.g., aluminum foil wrapped around most of the opener, protect it? (wrapping it completely blocks the signal that opens the garage door)

when did static electricity come into the picture?

gcat — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 07:33:54 -0800

when did static electricity come into the picture? ok, lightning is static electricity, but im not asking about that particular phenomenon. the other day i handed a coworker a document, and our hands touched and we both got zapped.

when did this start happening? before humans? after the appearance of humans and their artifacts? is there any way to know - or does someone already know?

do elephants ever shock each other like that? how about brontosaurus?

i realize humidity is a factor, but im not sure how much that affects the answer to my question.

and im not asking about anything involving metal, just to be clear.

any ideas? or answers, even?

thanks!

Static electricity...in my pants

dilettante — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 14:34:52 -0800

How can I prevent static build up on (lined) wool pants? All my nice pants are wool, and I have a professional conference to attend next month. In cold weather, my pants inevitably end up stuck all around my legs. I walk very quickly, but slowing down doesn't seem to help much.

To make the situation even worse, my winter coat is also wool, and it may well be cold enough that I'll need that, too.

A DVD player, a TV, composite cables, and a spark

yz — Sat, 22 Apr 2006 19:57:48 -0800

Connecting my DVD player to my TV apparently damaged the latter's composite cable ports. Now I'm wondering if this could happen to other devices. When reconnecting my DVD player (a Cyberhome CH-DVD 402) to my TV's jacks using a composite cable (those red, white, and yellow RCA jacks) I noticed a spark (possibly at the DVD-player end, actually, but I actually can't remember now); since then images from any source connected via the composite jacks are completely scrambled. The TV still works normally with standard cable-TV input and had worked normally with this and other DVD players previously (when connected with the same cables, I believe).

I'd like to connect the same DVD player to another device. I know nothing about the electrical internals of anything so: could the DVD player or the composite cables have at some point become (permanently) faulty in such a way that they are more likely to permit damage to other electronic equipment (via static electricity, say, since that's likely the cause)?

Can static electricity start a fire in my bed?

justonegirl — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 11:49:49 -0800

Can static electricity within one's bedding be harmful? This may sound so stupid but my level of scientific knowledge is pitiful.

My husband and I recently bought all new bedding, including high-quality cotton sheets, a down comforter with a soft flannel cover, and a Serasoft blanket. The first night, when moving around in the dark, I noticed an alarming amount of static electricity in the blanket, visible as bright white "pops." It's been that way every night, in spite of rubbing a dryer sheet on the blanket, and I just feel a little paranoid. Google searching revealed a lot of links on static electricity related fires at fuel pumps, and one man who scorched some things with static in his clothing, but nothing bed-specific.

We're not going to catch on fire are we?

Static Electricity vs. Computer

youcancallmeal — Mon, 16 Jan 2006 10:25:38 -0800

I like wearing shoes during the winter with furry fabric on the inside and no socks. Add this to cold weather and I find myself extremely static-y. I shock everything; light switch plates, my car, my laptop. My question is...am I doing any damage to my iBook when I get shocked by it?

Information on a famous lightning photo?

Ethereal Bligh — Thu, 27 May 2004 12:33:29 -0800

Anyone have info on this famous lightning photo? Here's a Google image search. I'm interested in the two brothers photo, but info on the female would be welcome, too.

I reached the limits of my Google-fu. Only one source says these are the "McQuirken" brothers. Other pages claim that they were unharmed, but another person was subsequently killed. One source says that they and a sister were killed.

I'm thinking this is the famous hair-standing on end photo that I saw referenced and which initiated my search. Is it?

Does anyone have a relatively safe & painless method to discharge all the static electricity I'm building up these days?

.kobayashi. — Tue, 17 Feb 2004 09:11:48 -0800

Does anyone have a relatively safe & painless method to discharge all the static electricity I'm building up these days? [more inside] I've got a new office, and I love it... except for some reason, I build up a LOT of static electricity when I'm working at my desk. Touching the doorhandle has regularly become a somewhat painful proposition, like willfully grabbing a joybuzzer that's been amped up with a few D batteries. We're talking the sort of static charge that's accompanied by a flash of blue light and a loud pop, almost every time. And yes, I know I'm in no danger from it, but I'd love to find out a way to discharge the static electricity before I grab the metal doorknob and willfully shock myself yet again. Oddly, touching my desk or bookshelf to ground myself before grabbing the door handle hasn't worked yet. A related question, given my static buildup, do I need to worry about doing damage to my PC or stereo by touching them when I'm in my negatively charged state? Any advice from anyone who's dealt with this shocking issue themselves, or any of you science buffs out there, will be very much appreciated.