"Static Electricity" means "High Voltage"
Measuring your body-voltage
1999 William J. Beaty
"Static electricity" is not electricity which is static.
Actually, the thing we call Static electricity is an imbalance in the amounts of positive and negative charges found within the surface of an object. It's only the imbalance between opposite charges which is important. It's irrelevant whether the charge is moving or "static." In fact, the charge-imbalance can flow along as an electric current, yet it loses none of it's familiar "static electrical" properties. The charge still crackles, glows, and attracts dust and lint, even when it's moving along.) But how can we have "static" that flows? Motionless motion? Simple. "Static electricity" is all about charge-imbalance, and it has nothing to do with charges at rest. "Static electricity" was misnamed.
Then what is "static electricity?" Here's a big clue. There's always a strong e-field (electric field) surrounding these charges, whether the charges are moving still. This e-field is the main feature of so-called "static" electricity. But what's an e-field? One way to say it: an e-field is like a magnetic field, but it's electrical in nature. Another simple answer: an electric field is a voltage without a current; whenever you have pure voltage, then you have a pure electric field with no magnetism involved. Still another way to say it:
"STATIC ELECTRICITY" is not unmoving, it really means "HIGH VOLTAGE ELECTRICITY."
That's the answer. Static electricity is high voltage. High voltage has all the characteristics of "static electricity." And when gradeschool textbooks are trying to teach us about "static," they are really trying to teach us about what high voltage can do.
When we scuff our shoes upon a rug on a dry winter day, our bodies typically charge up to a potential of several thousand volts with respect to the ground. In physics this is a well-known fact, and is easily verified by meter measurements. Touch a grounded object, and a spark will leap between the object and your fingertip. This kind of electric spark can only exist when a high voltage is present. The tiniest spark requires about 500 volts. Big, nasty, painful sparks require lots more voltage, up to several thousand volts. But even when no sparks are jumping, there is still a high voltage between your charged body and the ground, and your charged body is surrounded with an invisible electric field.
During low-humidity weather, scuffing of shoes upon rugs can put a huge voltage on your body. It is fairly easy to detect this voltage (try RIDICULOUSLY SENSTIVE CHARGE DETECTOR) However, this voltage is fairly difficult for students to measure. A normal voltmeter won't work: the electrical resistance of a normal voltmeter will discharge your body almost instantly (it places a 10-megohm resistor across a 200pF body capacitance, and by T=RC we calculate that the meter's resistor drains out your body's stored energy in two thousandths of a second.)
Recently I discovered that some teachers DON'T BELIEVE that "Static Electricity" actually involves high voltage. OK, then we need a simple way to prove it. Below are various ways to measure the high voltages which arise because of "static electricity" upon your body. Don't take my word for it, go measure it for yourself.
Measuring your body-voltage
1999 William J. Beaty
"Static electricity" is not electricity which is static.
Actually, the thing we call Static electricity is an imbalance in the amounts of positive and negative charges found within the surface of an object. It's only the imbalance between opposite charges which is important. It's irrelevant whether the charge is moving or "static." In fact, the charge-imbalance can flow along as an electric current, yet it loses none of it's familiar "static electrical" properties. The charge still crackles, glows, and attracts dust and lint, even when it's moving along.) But how can we have "static" that flows? Motionless motion? Simple. "Static electricity" is all about charge-imbalance, and it has nothing to do with charges at rest. "Static electricity" was misnamed.
Then what is "static electricity?" Here's a big clue. There's always a strong e-field (electric field) surrounding these charges, whether the charges are moving still. This e-field is the main feature of so-called "static" electricity. But what's an e-field? One way to say it: an e-field is like a magnetic field, but it's electrical in nature. Another simple answer: an electric field is a voltage without a current; whenever you have pure voltage, then you have a pure electric field with no magnetism involved. Still another way to say it:
"STATIC ELECTRICITY" is not unmoving, it really means "HIGH VOLTAGE ELECTRICITY."
That's the answer. Static electricity is high voltage. High voltage has all the characteristics of "static electricity." And when gradeschool textbooks are trying to teach us about "static," they are really trying to teach us about what high voltage can do.
When we scuff our shoes upon a rug on a dry winter day, our bodies typically charge up to a potential of several thousand volts with respect to the ground. In physics this is a well-known fact, and is easily verified by meter measurements. Touch a grounded object, and a spark will leap between the object and your fingertip. This kind of electric spark can only exist when a high voltage is present. The tiniest spark requires about 500 volts. Big, nasty, painful sparks require lots more voltage, up to several thousand volts. But even when no sparks are jumping, there is still a high voltage between your charged body and the ground, and your charged body is surrounded with an invisible electric field.
During low-humidity weather, scuffing of shoes upon rugs can put a huge voltage on your body. It is fairly easy to detect this voltage (try RIDICULOUSLY SENSTIVE CHARGE DETECTOR) However, this voltage is fairly difficult for students to measure. A normal voltmeter won't work: the electrical resistance of a normal voltmeter will discharge your body almost instantly (it places a 10-megohm resistor across a 200pF body capacitance, and by T=RC we calculate that the meter's resistor drains out your body's stored energy in two thousandths of a second.)
Recently I discovered that some teachers DON'T BELIEVE that "Static Electricity" actually involves high voltage. OK, then we need a simple way to prove it. Below are various ways to measure the high voltages which arise because of "static electricity" upon your body. Don't take my word for it, go measure it for yourself.
