Static electricity is often thought of as just a tingling discomfort, but in industrial sites and certain environments, it’s a potential hazard that can lead to major accidents. It’s important to understand how static electricity works and the dangers it poses.
Everyone reading this article has experienced the tingling sensation of static electricity. It can come from holding a doorknob in the winter, putting on and taking off a thick sweater, or even shaking hands. If you’re naturally dry-skinned, you’ve probably gotten tingles from static electricity so often that you’ve learned how to avoid it. But did you ever imagine that a little pain and annoyance could lead you to a medical emergency? The truth is, the effects of static electricity are deeper in our daily lives than you might think. More than just an inconvenience, static electricity can lead to fatal accidents in industrial or medical environments. Let’s take a closer look at what static electricity is and how dangerous it can be.
Before we get into static electricity, it’s important to understand what electricity is. Everything in the world we live in is made up of basic units called atoms. An atom consists of a heavy nucleus with a (+) charge and light electrons with a (-) charge. Compared to the heavy nucleus, light electrons can move freely from one object to another. This can cause an object to have more (-) charges than (+) charges, or less (-) charges. This charge imbalance creates an electrical force, which we use to run machines, transmit information, and even regulate the nervous systems of living things. An entire object can have either a (+) or a (-) charge. The (+) and (-) charges have a force that attracts them to each other, like the N and S poles of a magnet, and this force is the source of electrical energy. Electricity is the charge and electrical energy generated by these electrons.
Static electricity means “electricity at rest”. When an object or its surface has more of either (+) or (-) charge, we say it’s charged, and static electricity means that the object remains charged and still. The most common type of static electricity we encounter in our daily lives is the static electricity created by friction. All objects are relatively easy to gain and easy to lose electrons, so when you rub two different objects together, electrons move from one to the other. If you go in front of a mirror right now and run a comb through your hair, you’ll probably notice that your hair sticks to the comb. This may seem like a simple phenomenon, but the energy generated by the movement of electrons in this process can be harnessed in a variety of ways. For example, one application of electrostatics is electrostatic printers, which can print letters and images using electrostatic principles without the need for ink. When hair and a comb rub together, the side that loses electrons is charged with a (+) charge and the side that gains electrons is charged with a (-) charge, and they stick together due to the attraction of the (+) and (-) charges.
So what does it mean when we say that we feel a tingling sensation when we grab a doorknob, “static electricity has risen” or “static electricity!”? The correct term for this tingling sensation is electrostatic spark discharge. When a charged object comes into contact with another object, it loses its charge, which is called a discharge. When the discharge occurs through a small area, such as when your fingertip touches a doorknob, electrical energy is released during the discharge process, causing sparks to fly, resulting in the phenomenon of spark discharge. The friction between our skin and the clothes we are wearing causes our bodies to become electrically charged, and this is what happens when we hold onto a doorknob. Interestingly, this discharge can lead to much bigger problems in extreme environments. For example, in a data center with a high density of electronics, even a small electrostatic discharge can damage sensitive equipment and cause significant economic losses. This buildup of static electricity is especially common during the winter months because water molecules in the air have an electrophilic affinity, which acts to discharge charged objects. In dry winters, there aren’t as many water molecules in the air, so they don’t discharge our charged bodies as well, which is why we’re more likely to touch doorknobs while they’re charged.
But can this tingling electrostatic spark discharge really kill you? Fortunately, no. It’s believed that when you grab a doorknob or take off a sweater, you instantaneously generate a voltage of over 10,000 volts and a current of about 15 milliamperes (mA). Voltage is simply the amount of energy each electron has, and current is the amount of electrons that flow per hour. You might be surprised by the number 10,000. However, the actual damage to the human body depends on the magnitude of the current and the length of time it flows, which is why electrostatic discharge, which is a small current of around 15 mA for a very short time, only causes a slight tingling and prickling sensation. However, in some industrial settings, a small spark from static electricity can ignite flammable gases or dust and cause an explosion. However, if the spark catches on flammable materials, it can cause an explosion or fire.
In fact, there’s another type of static that’s really dangerous: lightning strikes. Clouds sometimes become electrically charged with an electrical charge that’s far greater than our own. When this huge charge is discharged through the air, it’s called lightning, and when it’s discharged to something on the ground, it’s called a bolt of lightning. If that object on the ground is you, it can be dangerous enough, because unlike if you grabbed a doorknob, there’s a very large current flowing through it. However, the chances of being struck by lightning are very low, so there’s no need to be afraid of it. Rather, it’s more important to understand how exactly the lightning rods installed in buildings to prevent lightning strikes work, so that you can stay safe. However, even in the case of lightning strikes, the duration of the current itself is very short, so the chances of surviving a lightning strike are high.
In this article, we’ve defined the term static electricity as it’s commonly used in our daily lives, and we’ve also discussed some of the phenomena of static electricity. I may have unintentionally confused some readers with the title, You Can Die from Static Electricity. Despite the fact that static electricity is a common phenomenon in our daily lives, it can expose us to unexpected dangers if we don’t understand it properly. If we all know and use the correct definitions of the terms, we can avoid these pitfalls in the future.
