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HUMANS AND SPARKS:The Cause, Stopping the Pain, and "Electic People"

(c)1997 William J. Beaty

"Static electric" sparks can be irritating and their causesometimes seems mysterious. ost people ha!eencountered painul car#door sparks$ as %ell as those%intertime sparks rom doorknobs and large metal ob&ects.What causes these' What can be done to stop them'

s children$ most o us learn the trick o scung our shoes across the carpet inorder to charge our bodies. *hen %e go to search or !ictims to "+ap" %ith ourelectric ,ngers. Sparks rom rug#scung are amiliar. - you scu your eet on thecarpet$ you e/pect to be +apped by the ne/t doorknob you touch. But %hy do ourbodies sometimes become charged rom simply walking around?

E!ECTR#$N% CAUSES

ctually$ no riction or rug#scung is re0uired in order to electrically charge yourbody. *he need or riction is a %idespread misconception.While its true that theriction can increase the charge#separation process$ riction isnt the cause.Whene!er t%o dierent insulating suraces touch together$ opposite charges%ithin the t%o suraces become separated. Simply walkingacross certain rugs orplastic 2ooring %ill cause your shoe soles to touch the dissimilar material o therug. *his is enough to separate the negati!es rom the positi!es and createimbalanced electric charges on the bottoms o your shoes.

"Static" electricity ( more correctly called "net electric charge" ) appears%hene!er the normal 0uantities o positi!e and negati!e electricity in a substanceare not perectly e0ual. 3emember that e!erything is made o atoms$ and atomsin turn are made o positi!e and negati!e electric charges. -n other %ords$ your

body is &ust a collection o positi!e and negati!e electrical particles. 4ormally thepositi!es cancel out the negati!es$ and e!erything beha!es electrically "neutral."4o mysterious sparking. But i you e!er end up %ith more negati!e than positi!e$or %ith more positi!e than negati!e$ then you ha!e a charge#imbalance on yourbody. 5ou %ill get +apped the ne/t time you touch a large metal ob&ect.

6/actly ho% can this imbalance occur' Whene!er %e %alk$ the soles o our shoessteal some negati!e charge rom the 2oor. We lea!e behind electri,ed positi!eootprints$ and our bodies a0uire an o!erall imbalance o negati!es. (rsometimes !ice !ersa %ith the negati!e and positi!e$ since polarity is determinedby the type o shoe soles and the type o rug.) ter many ootsteps$ our bodiesattain a high le!el o electric charge and a high !oltage. Body#!oltage can easilyrise to se!eral thousand !olts$ and the ne/t time you touch someone else... 8:$the imbalanced charge gets shared bet%een you and the other person. *he spark

is painul because its e/tremely hot. -t drills into your skin like a %hite#hot needle$creating a microscopic burned area.

S&ME CURES

*he simplest cure; beore touching a doorknob$ a car door$ etc.$ ,rst touch it %itha metal car key. *he ,ercely hot spark %ill blast the tip o the metal key ratherthan blasting your sensiti!e ,ngertip$ and it %ill painlessly discharge your bodyscharge. (hanging your shoe soles to another type (try leather)

3aising the humidity in the room

Spraying carpets$ 2oors$ and chairs %ith an antistatic coating

-nstalling a balanced#polarity ioni+er an(try the ?@A static eliminator -99@7$

rom >C= Sales)

Wearing metal#coated shoe soles (try alum. oil$ but its slippery)

Wearing a grounded %ire connected to a %rist strap

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s %ith the car keys$ the problem can also be pre!ented by discharging youre/cess body#charge in some %ay that doesnt cause pain. *his can be done by;

C=-S S6-4< 46 K *=6S6 S**-> 6--4*3S K3 ?@A$ -99@7 (IELAAM.) 4*=63 4*6; theres a %earable ioni+er ad!erti+ed by 4$but no price gi!en.

anuacturers also sell conducti!e shoe#straps and ankle cus %hich connectyour body electrically to the 2oor. *hese are meant to be used %ith specialconducti!e carpets$ and they %ont %ork %ell (or %ork at all) i the 2oor surace ismade o %ood$ plastic$ cloth$ or other good insulator.

Shoe soles create the charge imbalance$ so you can reduce the sparks bya!oiding particular types o shoe soles. Kor e/ample$ rubber soles usually cause

signi,cant charge separation$ %hile thin leather soles cause ar less. Namp saltyleather is best. r %ear sandals made rom old tire treads (the black rubber isconducti!e.) r %ear no shoes at all$ only %ear thin socks or go bareoot.

5ou might consider coating your shoe soles %ith hea!y adhesi!e aluminum oil.*he oil halts the sparking because contact %ith metals can only generate a tinyamount o imbalanced charge. Fnortunately the oil makes your shoesdangerously slippery$ and it lea!es black scu marks on plastic 2oors.

Simple solution; %hene!er sparking is possible$ carry a metal ob&ect such as a penor a set o keys. =old them ,rmly and use them to touch any large metal ob&ects.- the spark is blasting the end o your car keys$ then it isnt burning a hole in your,nger. nd right ater the spark has occurred$ you can grab that metal %ithout aproblem.

Kor car#door sparks; i you touch the metal shell o the car as you climb rom yourseat$ there %ill be no high#!oltage buildup and no painul spark. *his is good ne%sor the passengers in your car %ho might not be carrying any keys or coins.

nother solution; al%ays knock your knuckles against doorknobs beore grabbingthe knob. *his %ont stop the spark$ but the spark is less painul %hen it bores intoyour knuckle rather than into your delicate ,ngertips. - you %hack your knuckleshard$ you barely eel the spark at all. ter all$ youre 6O6>*-4< the small pain oyour knuckle impact$ and you are controlling the impact$ so the pain o the sparkisnt uncontrolled and une/pected. Kor some reason$ une/pected sparks hurt armore than the ones you produce intentionally.

- you 365 hate sparks$ you might consider %earing a metal se%ing thimbleupon one ,nger at all times. *ouch the thimble to the doorknob (or to other metalob&ects) and youll eel no huge "+ap." *he spark %ill still occur$ but the pain is

gone. 4ote that the metal o the thimble FS* touch your skin$ other%ise you%ont stop the spark. - you %ant to e/periment %ith thimbles in the ends oglo!es or mittens$ put the thimbles -4S-N6 the ,ngers o the glo!es.

- you keep getting +apped at %ork$ or i you keep crashing your computer$consider %earing a %rist strap %ith a %ire connected to an electrical "ground."

*hese are ine/pensi!e onebay.com$typically less than ?1A$ &ust search orkey%ord "electrostatic" and youll ,nd some. While you %ear a grounded %rist#strap$ your body cannot charge up at all.

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CAR D&&RS

*he cause o car#door sparking is %ell kno%n; contact#electri,cation bet%eeninsulating suraces$ ollo%ed by separation o those suraces. But %hat does thismean' Well$ P5FP are one surace$ and *=6 >3 S6* is the other. When you siton a plastic car seat in dry %eather$ the contact bet%een your clothes and the

seats surace causes the electrical charges %ithin atoms o the material totranser bet%een the suraces. *his is our old riend "rictional" or "contact"charging. ne surace ends up %ith more negati!e charges than positi!e$ and hasa negati!e charge#imbalance. *he other surace has e%er negati!es thanpositi!es$ so it has a positi!e imbalance. *his is nearly same thing as rubbing aballoon upon your hair; both suraces become electrically charged. But ratherthan rubbing &ust your hair$ instead youre rubbing your entire back$ but$ and legsupon the car seat surace.

=o%e!er$ nothing happens as long as you remain seated. Just keep yoursel in oneplace and you %ont get +apped.. s long as the suraces remain near each other$the positi!es and negati!es cancel out$ and no o!erall "electricity" appears and nosparks are possible. But %hen you open the car door and step outside$ you take

&ust one polarity o charge along %ith you$ %hile the car seat has the opposite

polarity. t the same time$ the charged#up car seat causes the %hole car tobecome charged (by a process called "Karadays -cepail 6ect.") s you step outo the car$ the !oltage bet%een your body and the car becomes huge$ up to1A$AAA or e!en LA$AAA !olts. 5our shoes are probably insulating$ so the chargehas no opportunity to leak into the earth. 5ou reach out to close the car doorand 'AP($ the opposite polarities re&oin by leaping through the air %hile gi!ingyou a tiny$ deep burn on your ,ngertip:

=o% to pre!ent this' ne possibility; change the surace materials. -dentiy anda!oid the speci,c clothing %hich makes the problem %orse. *hese materials areusually %ool s%eaters and pants$ certain manmade abrics$ plastic raincoats$ etc.r$ replace your cheap plastic car seatco!ers %ith cloth (stains easily:) or %ithleather (e/pensi!e dead animals.) nother method; mi/ up some anti#staticsolution and spray your car seats. *his solution remains slightly damp or %eeks$

%hich halts the contact#charging process. *he ormula; a teaspoon o abricsotener mi/ed in one 0uart o %ater. *his tends to %ork %ell at ,rst$ but aterdays it %ears o and needs a re#coating. nother sillier method; al%ays dri!ebareooted$ so the charge %ill leak a%ay %hen you step outside the car. 4ot goodin %inter: 5ou could co!er your car seats %ith a conductor such as aluminum oil$%hich scre%s up the contact#charging eect. =a!e a tailor make some customclothing out o black conducti!e carbon cloth' r you could eliminate the problemby eliminating your clothes. Skin is airly conducti!e$ so it doesnt create charge#separation %hen held against plastic. Nri!ing %hile nude might cure the sparkingproblem (unless you are a !ery hairy person:)

less ri!ilous method; the car#keys trick - mentioned earlier. Ne!elop the habit oholding your car keys as you lea!e the car$ then grip the keys ,rmly and touch themetal car door %ith the tip o the key. *he spark %ill still &ump$ but it %ill not bepainul$ since it blasts a little hole in the tip o the key instead o in your ,nger. rsimply grasp the car door as you climb out$ and this %ill drain o the charge#imbalance aster than it can build up on your body.

N4-

Saety issues;ist o gasoline ,res caused by static sparks.Sparks and gasoline.

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M$STERES: Electic People

*he source o some human#body sparking is a mystery. *here are reports o rarepeople$ "6lectric =umans$" %ho de!elop high !oltage on their bodies and suerthe continuous problem o "static" sparks. *heir sparking occurs regardless ooot%ear$ clothing$ humidity$ or e!en motion: 6lectric people are ore!er getting

+apped %hen they touch others$ or %hen they touch large metal ob&ects. Kor therest o us$ "static electric" sparks can only occur ater %e %alk across certaincarpets %hen humidity is lo%$ or %hen %e %iggle around %hile sitting upon certainchairs. nd or the rest o us$ the problem !anishes %hen the humidity is high$ or%hen %e go bareoot or a!oid %ool or nylon s%eatersEpants$ a!oid plastic seats$etc. But the bodies o "6lectric =umans" instead seem to become electri,ed allthe time$ all by themsel!es$ %ithout in!ol!ing the riction or thecontactEseparation o diering suraces.

3.. Kord mentions t%o cases in chapter 1I o his book =6N6 -omputers$ stereo e0uipment$ digital %atches$ etc.$ are easilydamaged by high !oltage and spark discharges. ll sorts o electronic appliances%ould not sur!i!e !ery long under the electrostatic barrage. n electric human%ould be ad!i+ed to buy mechanical %atches$ and to a!oid buying any appliance%hich contains a microprocessor.

Fnortunately$ scienti,c skepticism is currently at an all time high$ so i a person%ith this sparking problem %as to seek help$ they %ould probably be ridiculed and

their sanity 0uestioned: Scientists dont belie!e in "electric people." 3eputablescientists "kno%" that 6lectric =umans are mere superstition and cannot e/ist.*hereor anyone claiming to ha!e this problem is irrational$ perhaps deranged: tleast the internet is there$ gi!ing opportunity or charged humans to tell theirstories (or e/ample$ at; REP&RT $&UR UNUSUA! PHEN&MENA)

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