NationStates Jolt Archive

Or maybe this is a dream. This just can't be real!

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050917/ap_on_fe_st/australia_static_shock_1
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050916/od_nm/australia_electricity_dc;_ylt=AmtKGDjdF7RyvMwomEh7EpsZ.3QA;_ylu=X3oDMTA3NW1oMDRpBHNlYwM3NTc-
http://abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200509/s1461751.htm


So basically...

A dude gets so completely charged with static electricity that he scorches the carpet and burns his environment to the point that the building had to be evacuated.

Has anything like this EVER happened? What are the probabilities of this even happening?! :eek:

Could just be the end of times. Who knows?

Anyone else find this to be absolutely insane, or am I just overreacting on a not-so-uncommon event due to the late hour?

I say we ban pants. Think of the children.

He should change his name to 'Electro - the static electricity man'. Lekky for short.
Pretty friggin' weird imo. Cool though.

That's what you get for wearing cheap nylon clothes. He deserved to fry, the fashion freak.

I couldn't freakin believe it when I read that! INSANE!

This is physically impossible, as any first-year physics student could tell you.

Furthermore, "We tested his clothes with a static electricity field meter and measured a current of 40,000 volts,
Current is measured in amps, not volts. Volts are a measure of electric potential. Furthermore, a static potential of 40,000 volts is nothing.
Just to show how harmless a static potential of 40,000 volts is: The breakdown potential of about an inch of air is about the same voltage. There are machines you can use to build up that kind of a potential in a pair of capacitor plates. You can put the plates an inch apart, and build up the potential, and as soon as it reaches the breakdown voltage of air, you will see an arc of current flow from one plate to the other, like a tiny bolt of lightning. You can even put a piece of paper in between the two plates - the current passes right through it, not leaving a trace. No scorch mark, nothing. the current is so small and so brief that it cannot even scorch a piece of paper, much less burn carpet or melt plastic.