You may think you know static electricity, but its true nature has long eluded scientists. We’ve now made a huge leap towards ...

Anyone who has ever pet a cat or shuffled their feet across the carpet knows that rubbing objects together generates static ...

We have known about the phenomenon of static electricity since at least the time of Aristotle. Aristotle credits fellow philosopher Thales of Miletus, who lived between 640 and 546 BCE, with the ...

Around 600 BC, the ancient Greek philosopher . Thales discovered that amber attracted dust and other particles when rubbed with a cloth. This is said to be the first report of static electricity ...

Static can cause bigger issues for planes and mining operations. (Unsplash: Ramon Salinero)Dramatic cases of static electricity. When it comes to planes, grain silos and coal mines, static ...

But static electricity is to lightning what a drop of water is to a roaring river. Why is it happening now? Blame it on the dry air and cooler temperatures.

The first documentation of static electricity dates back to 600 BCE. Even after 2,600 years’ worth of tiny shocks, however, researchers couldn’t fully explain how rubbing two objects together ...

Ticks can be attracted across gaps of air much larger than themselves by the static their hosts naturally accumulate, likely making it much easier for the creatures to latch onto hosts, University ...

The researchers measured the amount of static electricity produced when they ground different commercially and in-house roasted coffee beans that varied by factors including country of origin ...

Despite this, the potential that insect-induced static electricity plays a role in the atmosphere’s electric field, which influences how water droplets form, dust particles move and lightning ...

But, while static electricity may be cute to think about when petting a cat, sparks can result in industrial fires and explosions. It can also hinder consistent dosing for powdered pharmaceuticals.

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 ...