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 causes ...

Many people are familiar with the experience: grabbing their favorite blanket and gotting shocked. Static electricity may not be too dangerous, but it is uncomfortable and annoying. So, why is there ...

Static electricity is so commonplace that it can come across as simple. Rub a balloon against your head, and the transfer of charges will make your hair stand on end. Shuffle your feet on a carpet, ...

Butterflies and moths collect so much static electricity whilst in flight, that pollen grains from flowers can be pulled by static electricity across air gaps of several millimetres or centimetres.

Scientists at Northwestern University may have figured out why walking on carpet in your socks, petting your furry friend, or rubbing a balloon on your hair creates static electricity. In a new study, ...

Could detecting static electricity be a factor in explaining why treehopper insects have evolved such bizarre body shapes? That is the hypothesis put forward in a new research paper published in ...

Ticks can be attracted across air gaps several times larger than themselves by the static electricity that their hosts naturally accumulate, researchers have discovered. Ticks can be attracted across ...

The imbalance of charges that takes place with this fun phenomenon typically happens when two different materials come into contact and then are separated. In the experience, one of the materials may ...

Zaps of static electricity are commonplace in everyday life. But can static electricity give enough of a jolt to start a fire? Static electricity is the result of an imbalance between negative and ...

A century after Nikola Tesla sketched a turbine with no blades, researchers are now using that same counterintuitive design to pull useful power out of static electricity. The latest experiments pair ...

Have you ever rubbed a balloon on your hair and watched it stick to the wall? That’s static electricity in action! Let’s see how you can make tiny pieces of tissue dance using just a balloon and some ...