#static – @biomedicalephemera on Tumblr

A trick I discovered to deal with static electricity during the winter is to quickly rap your knuckles on the object you're going to touch. I know it sounds like quackery, but it's really cut down on the number of shocks I've gotten.

If you come into contact with a non-metal surface that's NEAR a metal surface, that works too. Also keeping your skin moisturized apparently helps. And maybe don't spend an hour brushing your cats every day. That helps too. (personal tip)

#static #reply #static electricity #bruceandmary

biomedicalephemera

dingetje50 asked:

I keep on getting these electric shocks whenever I touch something made of metal that's connected to the ground. It seems as if I'm charging myself or something but idk if that's even possible... I went to take a snack outside of the room and I opened the door (which has a knob made of metal). I got the snack and not even thirty seconds later I touched the metal knob again and got a violent shock again... The vending machine didn't shock me though. Any ideas?

Not just for kids - a good explanation of static in general.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fT_LmwnmVNM

Winter is DRY - cold air holds less moisture to begin with, and combine that with the fact that it's harder for the air to gain moisture, and you have some really dry conditions, especially when it gets quite cold out. Dry air makes it easy for static to build up. I bet you'll notice static happening with other metal objects (even those that aren't connected to the ground) if you keep observing.