Thread: Science Lesson

st the other day a friend and I were walking through the Pro shop at a local golf course when he touched the door knob and got shocked by static electricity.

He turns to me and says,” Damn, I wish someone would explain that damned static electricity to me.”

So I did, and here is my explanation - especially for my non-engineering friends:

Static electricity is an imbalance of electric charges within or on the surface of a material. The charge remains until it is able to move away by means of an electric current or electrical discharge. For modeling the effect of static discharge on sensitive electronic devices, a human being is represented as a capacitor of 100 Pico farads, charged to a voltage of 4,000 to 35,000 volts. When the human touches an object, this energy is discharged in less than a microsecond:

The difference in polarity of the two charges creates a certain attraction between the objects.

Are you still having a little trouble understanding this? If so, the next photo may help.

Those funny lips and pigtails are a distraction.

Brilliant.

Is that a Starbucks coffee that she is carrying?

That's a pretty good camel toe.