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Shocking door!
Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 10:20 pm
by woutR
Every time I walk away from my PC to go downstairs or w/e, and I touch my steel doorknob, I get a shock.
How does that work? What's giving me this charge?
It's not painful or anything, just a slight tingle, but nonetheless this is getting annoying.
Time to put a stop to this!
Brainiacs of SRF: how does this work and how do I stop it?!
Re: Shocking door!
Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 10:23 pm
by Squirt
A Shocking Atom
What you might not know is how static electricity happens. It all starts with a tiny thing called an atom (say: ah-tum). Everything in the world is made up of atoms - from your pencil to your nose. An atom is so small you can't see it with your eyes - you'd need a special microscope. Think of atoms as building blocks for all the stuff in the world.
Each tiny atom is made up of even tinier things:
protons (say: pro-tahnz), which have a positive charge
electrons (say: ih-lek-trahnz), which have a negative charge
neutrons (say: noo-trahns), which have no charge
Most of the time, atoms have the same number of protons and electrons and the atom charge is neutral (not positive or negative). Static electricity is created when positive and negative charges aren't balanced. Protons and neutrons don't move around much, but electrons love to jump all over the place!
When an object (or person) has extra electrons, it has a negative charge. Things with opposite charges are always attracted to each other, so positive charges seek negative ones and negative ones seek positives. Whew! Got it?
Beware of Conductors!
If you scuff your feet on your living room rug, you pick up extra electrons and have a negative charge. Electrons move more easily through certain materials like metal, which scientists call conductors. When you touch a doorknob (or something else made of metal), which has a positive charge with few electrons, the extra electrons want to jump from you to the knob.
That tiny shock you feel is a result of the quick movement of these electrons. You can think of a shock as a river of millions of electrons flying through the air. Pretty cool, huh? Static electricity happens more often during the colder seasons because the air is usually drier, and it's easier to build up electrons on the skin's surface.
So, the next time you get a little shock from touching a doorknob, you'll know that it's just electrons jumping around. Think of it as putting a little spark in your life!
http://kidshealth.org/kid/talk/qa/electric_shock.htmlBasic static electricity
Re: Shocking door!
Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 10:25 pm
by /Pi
Stop walking around on the carpet with your socks on.
Re: Shocking door!
Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 11:12 pm
by Jstar1
Also a reason for it is because the temperature of the area is dry (obviously because of the winter). If it really bothers you, get a humidifier in your room.
Re: Shocking door!
Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 11:38 pm
by wootpops
leave door open run around room dragging feet go to sister/family member and touch them.
Re: Shocking door!
Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 11:40 pm
by Swindler
open the door with a rubber glove and you're good to go.
Re: Shocking door!
Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 12:25 am
by EvGa
Tazer. You've gotta fight fire with fire. In this case electricity vs electricity. Go.
EDIT: Where the hell is my sig!?
Re: Shocking door!
Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 12:25 am
by Kraq
EvGa wrote:Tazer. You've gotta fight fire with fire. In this case electricity vs electricity. Go.
EDIT: Where the hell is my sig!?
This man speaks the truth.
Re: Shocking door!
Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 1:18 am
by Mirosuke
NO WAY...
can you turn on a lamp just touching it?
Re: Shocking door!
Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 1:25 am
by Mindy
Mirosuke wrote:NO WAY...
can you turn on a lamp just touching it?
The true brainiac of SRF