06:21 am - [As Information.]
The Greeks figured out a long time ago that pieces of amber would strangely attract little particles of light if you rubbed them with your finger the right way. What happens is that the amber becomes electrified by what's called the triboelectric effect. This just means that regular static electricity is produced sometimes if you happen to rub some things together in the right way. Socks and carpeting are good for that. A wool sweater getting pulled over your head does this when it gets tugged past your hair. Amber is one of those things that also makes a good conductor in that way when it meets your skin and the Greek word for amber is ēlektron. That's where we got the word for electricity. Yup.
So the polarity and strength of the charges that are produced are differnt and they vary widely. It just depends on things like what the material is, the surface roughness, the temperature, strain, pressure and some other stuff. But it's just across the board on how and when it works and in what combination. And it's not a very predictable form of electricity at all. Only broad generalizations can be made. Take amber again as an example, it's safe to say that amber will create an electric charge by contacting and then separating it from something like wool. But you can try it 50 times and it may not ever happen.
It has to be just right and then it's just all shocking, sparking gangbusters with this goddam static cling. Crazy, right?
You can try this with other things besides socks and carpeting and sweaters and hair. Try using glass rubbed with silk and hard rubber rubbed with rabbits fur.
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
jasonwentcrazy's journal