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 ...

Electrets produce a semi-permanent static electric field, similar to how a magnet produces a magnetic field. The ones in microphones are very small, but in the video after the break [Jay Bowles ...

When he rubbed fur on amber, the amber attracted dust. This seemingly trivial observation was the first documentation of static electricity. For over 2,600 years, scientists have grappled with ...

Scientists have finally figured out the core mechanism behind static electricity. First discovered in 600 B.C., the ...