Electrical Safety: Static Electricity

COMMON DENOMINATOR

What are Applications of Static Electricity in Real Life?

Filtering, stirring, pouring and pumping liquids creates static electricity. Like static cling in clothing, this is sometimes little more than a nuisance, but when flammable liquids are being moved, static electricity can cause fires and explosions if sufficient concentrations of flammable vapors are present.

Charges can jump around between things, especially when things are rubbed together. When you drag your feet on the carpet, electrons from the carpet jump onto you. As the charge builds up, the electrons get too close to each other, and they need a place to escape.

Static electricity is an imbalance of electric charges within or on the surface of a material

The modern touch screen uses static electricity to function. Your smartphone has a capacitive touch screen. This conductive material stores the static from your finger in an electrostatic grid of tiny wires inside your phone. When you touch the screen, you complete an electrical circuit and cause a voltage drop on that section of the screen. The internal software processes where your finger is and executes a command in milliseconds.

With some sometimes tortuous explanations, the author discusses the issue of static electricity generation in ductwork. He uses logic, basic physics, and some equations to describe electron density, migration, and grounding within typical 4" PVC ducting attached to dust collectors. He concludes that it is effectively impossible for the static charge inside the duct to cause a spark, combustion, or explosion within the flowing air and entrained wood chips. I think he said (I read it a few minutes at a time, when time allowed) that it is entirely possible to receive a static shock from the outside of the ducting.

Electric Charge and Electric Force

static electricity in photocopiers helps to create accurate, high-quality copies of documents

static electricity projects a pattern of the image onto the positively charged photoreceptive drum below. The positively charged particles on the drum's surface are neutralized by the light

Negatively charged toner particles are then attracted to these positive charges on the paper, and the toner is transferred to a positively charged sheet of paper.

static electricity plays a crucial role in the copying process.

One effective way of preventing sparks is by connecting all objects to a conductor

Spark discharges occur when the charges accumulated on conductive objects create an electric field that exceeds the ambient atmosphere’s electric strength.

Sparks are responsible for most industrial fires and explosions as a result of static electricity.

Fires or explosions due to the ignition of flammable or explosive mixtures.

static electricity is far from other familiar electromagnetic manifestations of electricity. It can be as hazardous and requires well-planned protection against its threats.

form of electricity resulting from the imbalance between positive and negative charges

a stationary electric charge, typically produced by friction, which causes sparks or crackling or the attraction of dust or hair.