MINNEAPOLIS — When someone touches something and gets shocked, it's awkward and a bit painful. What causes static electricity? And what actually happens when you get shocked? Visitors of the ...

Static electricity was first observed in 600 B.C., but researchers have struggled to explain how rubbing causes it. In 2019, researchers discovered nanosized surface deformations at play. The same ...

As humans we often think we have a pretty good handle on the basics of the way the world works, from an intuition about gravity good enough to let us walk around, play baseball, and land spacecraft on ...

Have you ever experienced that little electric "zap" when shaking hands or touching a metal surface? This phenomenon, known as static discharge, has a scientific explanation related to the ...

Rubbing two balloons together leads George to a shocking discovery. If you rub two identical balloons together, they both pick up a static charge. This strange and unexpected behavior has been ...

Niusha Shafiabady does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond ...

Butterflies and moths collect so much static electricity while in flight, that pollen grains from flowers can be pulled by static electricity across air gaps of several millimeters or centimeters. The ...

Static electricity was first observed in 600 BC, but researchers have struggled to explain how it is caused by rubbing. With a better understanding of the mechanisms at play, researchers potentially ...