Static Electricity

sal35 · January 2, 2006, 12:23am

Re: Static Electricity

Captain Lota:

I used to drive a 1987 Toyota Corolla LE (luxury edition :p ). I would get an electric shock from its door everyday. You get shocks from most older cars because theyre not properly grounded. Most newer cars have fixed this problem and i very rarely get zapped now.

Often times you will see a little metallic strip behind the body of the car hanging down to touch the ground. That strip is used to discharge the body of the car which becomes negatively charged after a long trip.

Same happens with airplanes. Because they fly in such extreme conditions, a lot of the positively charged particles from the airplane's body get blown away off the body. After the flight, air planes have to be grounded and all negative charge is to be neutralized before they are refueled. If theyre not properly grounded, a spark can very likely cause a fire in the fuel line.

Sincerely, Captain Lota

Extremely informative. Thanks a lot