h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

'Traveller in Time walking in a cloud of water vapour':

...but what happens in dry atmospheric conditions?

Traveller in Time on his head
"Then I have to drink lots of water . . . "

I've not done any experiments, no. Just lots of research, involving asking people if they suffer and how, and if they have found anything to prevent.

I thought the entry was comprehensive enough without the science, as I would, as a person wanting relief from being constantly zapped, look for a solution, and to have to wade through a load of science stuff would put me off

But no-one else did, so I bow to the majority.

This is my last ever entry on a scientific subject, and I'm not letting it go because no-one can agree on what *actually* happens.
I would rather delete the scientific stuff and leave the entry on SED's as it was when I entered it the first time.

Thanks to all who have tried to help.

I never experienced static shocks until I went to New York early this year. There we sparked off each other with a painful and audible click, and off door handles and anything metal; including cars. The weather was cold and dry; after a few days the weather changed and the static reduced.

So that was the air..which is top of the list of positives.
You should have both moisturized or massaged each other with oil.

Thanks

I'm assuming you went with your wife/girlfriend/partner.

GB, Please leave the science in - it's not bad at all.

This article also says that the human body can acquire a negative (or sometimes a positive) charge.


... http://amasci.com/emotor/zapped.html

GB, You can't ignore the science. It's only by understanding how/why things happen that one can work out a way of counteracting it.

Some other examples:

(1) Bacteria work on your teeth at night, when they're not being constantly rubbed off when chewing food etc. So, brush your teeth at before going to bed rather than in the morning.

(2) Blood requires oxygen to clot. Hence, if I have a nose bleed I endeavour to breathe in through my nose (slowly and gently) and out through my mouth.

I agree with Galaxy Babe. She can't put in the "science bit" if nobody can agree on how it works.

Traveller in Time technical by nature
"Well, we 'technicians' are all just a bunch of nitpickers at least I am. However we (?) would like to see this entry as written by a layman (laywoman ? ) just without any real (scientific) factual wrong statements.

The point of view as by a layman is worth to be expressed. As Gnomon suggests what are your real life experiences with these sparks ?

One other thing I can try to add, regarding my 'cloud of water vapour': Static electricity tends to accumulate at sharp extremes, that is why your hair would stand up but your belly or back do not show much effects. The water vapour tends to creat a spherical shape around me, at the worst case I become charged but do not feel any discharge spark as the discharge uses a large area so the intensity is very low.

"

I would advise teeth brushing at night *and* in the morning...

I meant I would remove the science if it's wrong or no-one can agree.

We can't have an edited entry if the information is wrong.

I'll have a read of that - see if it's "Galaxy Babe-friendly"

Well, the science is not wrong. We all agree that a static shock is experienced when electrons jump from one material to another.

It is irrelevant (to this Entry) which substance/material is at high potential or low potential. (and this is where the disagreement lies). I think your Entry is fine as it is.

Is there not an agreed account of static and cars?

It seems perfectly feasible that EITHER a car could charge itself up relative to Earth (the planet) by rolling along, discharging through you when you step out, OR that you could charge yourself up relative to the car by rubbing on the seat; but there seems to be a contradiction in the post above that combines these two effects into one.

And yes, GB, I did go to NY with my wife/girlfriend/partner.

Well, this is probably the agreed account, which was in the reference I gave to GB (above):

CAR DOORS
The cause of car-door sparking is well known: contact-electrification between insulating surfaces, followed by separation of those surfaces. But what does this mean? Well, *YOU* are one surface, and THE CAR SEAT is the other. When you sit on a plastic car seat in dry weather, the contact between your clothes and the seat's surface causes the electrical charges within atoms of the material to transfer between the surfaces. This is our old friend "frictional" or "contact" charging. One surface ends up with more negative charges than positive, and has a negative charge-imbalance. The other surface has fewer negatives than positives, so it has a positive imbalance. This is nearly same thing as rubbing a balloon upon your hair: both surfaces become electrically charged. But rather than rubbing just your hair, instead you're rubbing your entire back, but, and legs upon the car seat surface.

However, nothing happens as long as you remain seated. Just keep yourself in one place and you won't get zapped.. As long as the surfaces remain near each other, the positives and negatives cancel out, and no overall "electricity" appears and no sparks are possible. But when you open the car door and step outside, you take just one polarity of charge along with you, while the car seat has the opposite polarity. At the same time, the charged-up car seat causes the whole car to become charged (by a process called "Faraday's Icepail Effect.") As you step out of the car, the voltage between your body and the car becomes huge, up to 10,000 or even 20,000 volts. Your shoes are probably insulating, so the charge has no opportunity to leak into the earth. You reach out to close the car door and ZAP!, the opposite polarities rejoin by leaping through the air while giving you a tiny, deep burn on your fingertip!

As I said earlier, the DIRECTION in which the charges jump is irrelevant.

Well that makes sense. If that is all though, what is the point of those earthing strips (used to be chains) mentioned by someone else? They would imply the other kind of build-up, viz car/Earth.

Interesting: "your entire back, but, and legs" rub against the seat? But me no butts, as the man said after he gave up smoking.

A couple of typos:

'All matter is made up of atoms, whichin turn are made of positive and negative electric charges'. > which in turn

(Think minature lightning) > miniature

I haven't time to read through the entry in detail at the moment, as I have to work to earn a living , but I'll try and give it a detailed look at lunch time.

RM,

'If that is all though, what is the point of those earthing strips (used to be chains) mentioned by someone else? They would imply the other kind of build-up, viz car/Earth'.

Yes, as I said above, there is a build-up of charge between Earth and car (and I envisage the human/car link to work like a van der Graaf generator).

The chain conductor would drain the charge from the car, but the human is separated from the car by insulating materials, so there could still be a p.d. between person and car.

I've reworded and changed some things around, tried to put it in some sort of order, with a new shorter introduction.

Then I tried to update and was told "No such entry exists"

I'm guessing the site is having problems again, so I'm going to print off my copy and try to update later.

A wise precaution.

As long as it doesn't tell you that you don't exist.