Static electricity often just seems like an everyday annoyance when a wool sweater crackles as you pull it off, or when a doorknob delivers an unexpected zap. Regardless, the phenomenon is much more ...

Static electricity can be a nuisance or even a danger. The energy that makes your hair to stand on end can also damage electronics and cause explosions. However, properly controlled and manipulated, ...

Bob Renkes of Petroleum Equipment Institute is working on a campaign to try and make people aware of fires as a result of "static" at gas pumps. His company has researched 150 cases of these fires.

Sebastian Deffner is affiliated with the Department of Physics at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC). Static electricity is a ubiquitous part of everyday life. It’s all around us, ...

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 ...

From getting out of the car to hair standing on end — small zaps strike many of us at this time of year. So why does it happen? The prevalence of static electricity was all due to the weather, ...

Ancient Greeks discovered that when animal fur and amber were rubbed together, the fur could be used to attract feathers, glass dust and other lightweight objects. It wasn’t until 1600 AD, however, ...

The same phenomena that create lightning and thunderstorms are around us every day, producing incredibly high voltages, which cause sparks and shocks. Static electricity is a mighty force. Each year ...

Sometimes when you touch something metal, you can get a little electric shock, even if it’s not connected to a power source. And it’s all because of static electricity. Static electricity is a build ...

Curious Crew is available to stream on pbs.org and the free PBS App, available on iPhone, Apple TV, Android TV, Android smartphones, Amazon Fire TV, Amazon Fire Tablet, Roku, Samsung Smart TV, and ...