She's electric

[venta]

OK, I've always been prone to generating static electricity. If someone is going to get a shock off a metal thing, it's going to be me.

But over the last couple of months it's been getting a bit silly. My hair is constantly sticking to me/other people/passing objects, I crackle, I get shocks off anything remotely metallic. If I get undressed in the dark I sparkle :)

Which is all quite entertaining in its own way, but I'd like it to stop now. Before I start frying small electronics components. I'm mildly worried every time I pick my laptop up at present.

So, what should I do/not do ? I suspect the fleece I often wear doesn't help, what with it being largely synthetic. I seem to be worst at work, where we have the sort of carpets that don't get on well with rubber-soled shoes, but I'm usually just wandering about in socks. Is it time to break the clogs back out ?

What clothes should I be wearing ? I'd have thought "natural fibres" would be a good start, but wool seems to be something of a mistake.

Is there any truth in the rumour that touching a radiator is a good means of earthing yourself, or was that just some old wives' tale I learnt when I was little ? If not, how do I (practically) earth myself ?

Comments

[nalsa.livejournal.com]

Socks & short-fibre nylon carpets are a bad combination, regardless of the socking material. The fleece is a bad idea, as is pretty much anything fluffy, especially given the length of your hair. Unfortunately, winter is also great for generating static, although I've never had a good explanation as to why.

BTW, anything metallic and water-related must be earthed, by law. So, the central heating is going to be grounded at some point, as are taps, water pipes, and steel bathtubs (but not the galvanised ones that hang on the back of privy doors a la the Beverly Hillbillies). You can also earth yourself by touching the PSU of a PC, which, unless it's dreadfully faultly, ought to be earthing itself quite happily just by being plugged into the mains.

[nevecat.livejournal.com]

The fleece is a bad idea, as is pretty much anything fluffy [...] winter is also great for generating static, although I've never had a good explanation as to why.

I'd guess that the wearing of more things of fluffyness (coast, jumpers, scarves...) has something to do with it.

On a purely temperature-based thing...*ponders* - I guess in theory if the gas around an object is cooler, molecules are moving slower, so once a surface has gained charge, there's less opportunity for it to discharge that. Haven't studied thermodynamics for several years though, and I find it difficult to believe that a drop of what really is only a few degrees (on the larger scale of things) would cause a dramatic change.

[nalsa.livejournal.com]

Mmm. Just thinking about this out loud, it could be related to the drop in ambient humidity (and why buildings with AC are nightmares for static). As temperature drops, humidity drops with it, and with less water molecules in the air to act as a conductor to earth then there's less opportunity for the charge to be grounded, thus latching on to anything which might be already polarised...

But what do I know, I'm a biologist ;)

[leathellin.livejournal.com]

So am I but that is the explanation I have heard before and which sounded convincing.

[nevecat.livejournal.com]

That seems reasonable, and furthermore explains why I've had more issues with static over the last few years than when at university - evil offices!

[jiggery-pokery.livejournal.com]

Does this suggest that getting a humidifier in the rooms where you work and live would be an effective practical solution? Really not sure about humidifiers and dehumidifiers and their (side-)effects, plus the old joke about putting the two in the same room.

The thermometer behind me suggests this room has 38% humidity, though I'm not sure whether or not I believe it. This room tends to vary between about 35% and 60% humidity. Is this even plausible? What is a desirable level?

[onebyone.livejournal.com]

I think it is plausible. And a random websearch backs me up (hurrah for the random web), since USA Today thinks that 30% is too dry and 50% is too humid.

I've seen (on TV) athletics competitions at which humidity is above 100%. That's about the point where humidity ceases to be at all funny (other than jokes about swimming, of course).

[venta.livejournal.com]

So how is humidity measured, then ? A quick google suggests to me that 100% humidity is the point at which the air is saturated, so I don't see how it can go over that.

[onebyone.livejournal.com]

Humidity higher than 100% means that the air is super-saturated with water vapour - at which point water will start to condense out of the air onto any surface which it can use as a seed. This is the gap between when the temperature is low enough for dew to form and when dew finishes forming.

If the air temperature is also around human body temperature, then it becomes basically impossible to lose any body heat to the air, at which point bad things happen.

The reason aeroplanes leave vapour trails is that air at that height is often super-saturated, and the surface of the plane provides sufficient seed for water to condense. The water droplets which are blown off the plane then provide further seed surfaces. I don't know exactly how the process stops - possibly because condensing water heats the air until it's no longer super-saturated?

[nalsa.livejournal.com]

Relative humidity is something to do with the dew point temperature and what the temperature is right now. However, the dew point isn't a constant because it alters with air pressure, so the calculations themselves are faintly complicated. If dew point^oC=ambient^oC then humidity=100%. I suppose if it's raining then humidity could be over 100%...

(ooh, google found this for me; the graphs look pretty useful.)