Team-BHP - Static Electricity Discharge / Shock when touching car's front door

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Static charge build-up is common when your body gets rubbed with any similarly charged body. Though I dont remember the exact techno terms for the phenomena, hope you get the drift.
( remember the comb & pieces of paper experiment we were made to perform in the school : Rub the comb on your head and hold it over the paper pieces - they would get attracted towards the comb ) :D

The only solution to avoid getting yourself or the people around you 'shocked' is to touch the bare ground with your hand after you get off from the car ( technically, grounding your own body ).

I face the same problem many a times - and have found the aforementioned solution to work.

There is a work around. And seems to work for me.

as soon as you get out of the car, touch your knuckles to the car before touching anything else anywhere.

I'm one of those, who had visible sparks (an night) by touching the car with fingers.

For me its not limited to cars only . I guess my whole bodys electrical system is faulty

I get static shocks -

- when i touch people
- Bike
- Any metallic object
- Sometimes when I cook - the pan / cooker gives static discharge to me
- Computer

& still I am amazed what all things can static shock me

( & I am dead serious over here, meet me if you dont believe me )

Quote:

Originally Posted by passion4cars (Post 1547951)

Same here! I've shocked a parking guy who was handing over the slip to me, after the shock he jumped back a couple of feet.

But, it's because of open nerve ending (that's what I've heard and understand) normally caused in winter seasons, because of dryness.

I used to get static shocks on my hands when I touch door-knobs, car doors, shake hands with some people.... you name it.

But not anymore, ever since I moved to Kerala! The humid air here just doesn't allow statics to be developed anywhere!

Quote:

Originally Posted by SLK (Post 1548342)

But, it's because of open nerve ending (that's what I've heard and understand) normally caused in winter seasons, because of dryness.

I don't think so. share some literature if you have.

It happens because of the winter clothes we wear. Most of them are lined with synthetic inner and that keeps rubbing with our bodies. that's how the static charge is built up.

The simplest way to avoid it is changing the point at which the spark happens. You get a shock because you touch the door handle (or whatever) with your fingers, so your finger gets the shock. Just hold your keys, and touch the object with the keys. The spark will be seen between the keys and the handle, and you will get a minimal effect. I do it all the time when I reach office.

OT, If you want to have fun, try giving an electrifying kiss to your loved ones. Once you reach home, take off the coat while keeping the shoes on, give an electrifying peck and watch them scream with shock and anger. rinse and repeat :D

There is a simple way to avoid the shock when you get out. Hold something metallic when you open the door and step out. Inside the car you are in a Faraday Cage so as you step out this technique ensures that the static is discharged without a shock.

just came back after 'sparking' the pantry staff who was handing me a ceramic plate. She dropped the plate breaking it to pieces and ran for life screaming "SHOCK, SHOCK !"

Have been 'sparking' ever since I moved in to a new office location (a business centre) a year back. Have successfully 'sparked' every single one of my colleagues in the last one year.

The spookiest moment was when I 'sparked' a colleague about six months back and he ran around telling everyone in office about it. About 10 of my colleagues surrounded me asking what was happening to me and I just shrugged and pointed upwards (indicating 'god knows'). To everyone's horror (and mine too) all lights on the floor went out just at that second I pointed upwards :Shockked:. Thankfully, the lights came on after a while and I realized that it was just a coincidence with a power failure

I was really not sure what was happening to me and whom to approach until I came across this thread. Boy, am I glad that there's a scientific explanation to this !

P.S : Have now figured that the super chill a/c is the culprit but can do nothing about it as the business centre has one common temperature setting for the entire floor.

For the first time ever i felt these static shocks today. I thought it was something to do with the central locking wiring until i realized what the actual problem was.

Every time i got out of the car and touched the door i got a shock. So much so that in the night i could see visible sparks. I know it is not harmful but i am like really scared to touch the door while getting out of the car. Must say, some shocks were quite nasty.

I am experiencing a different problem when ever I drive.
I am realizing a mild electric shock when I stop car come out and touch the door for closing it. Its only second but its very uncomfortable.
What I was told by my service manager is that its a static current and you have no option rather than just experiencing it.
SO I started pushing the door by touching the door handles.
Then later When I move towards my home ( harldy 5 steps from car park to gate) and try open the outer grill gate there also I felt the same shock.
I am not at all Ok with this.
No clue in what to be done to avoid.

Ashley,
This is nothing but static current. Just don't worry. It's more felt in winters.
I too felt this many a times. Nothing serious though, it causes you to wriggle, which may cause you to hit some other objects by mistake.

U can avoid this by touching the plastic handles of the vehicle to close the doors instead of the metal part. I do the same. This also depends on the type of clothes you wear.

Maybe changing the mats in the car can help a little ? I used to experience when we were using a rented car in Melbourne, but haven't experienced this my car so far.

I too am extremely prone to static current. I make it a point to use my handkerchief to touch any metallic objects (especially door handles). It may appear that I am a paranoid cleanliness freak but actually it's the shocks. In my case, somehow I feel that the shocks are not mild at times and actually shake me up quite a bit. At times, I hear a cracking sound too when I experience the shock. In winters it happens when i touch other people too !! I had dropped a cup of hot coffee because of this when I was handing it to someone.

@ashley, kalpesh,

A few things I could suggest to reduce theb static electricity generated in your body:

1) Avoid woolen, fleece, synthetic clothing. As far as possible wear cotton clothing.
2) While driving keep the windows rolled down to a max time, this will raise the humidity inside the car.
3) If you have dry skin, then moisturize it.
4) If you drag your feet while walking, try avoiding doing so. Also avoid synthetic soled shoes.

Pls find below the probable cause and effects and ways to reduce static shocks.

Quote:

The cause of car-door sparking is well known: contact-electrification between insulating surfaces, followed by separation of those surfaces. But what does this mean? Well, *YOU* are one surface, and THE CAR SEAT is the other. When you sit on a plastic car seat in dry weather, the contact between your clothes and the seat's surface causes the electrical charges within atoms of the material to transfer between the surfaces. This is our old friend "frictional" or "contact" charging. One surface ends up with more negative charges than positive, and has a negative charge-imbalance. The other surface has fewer negatives than positives, so it has a positive imbalance. This is nearly same thing as rubbing a balloon upon your hair: both surfaces become electrically charged. But rather than rubbing just your hair, instead you're rubbing your entire back, but, and legs upon the car seat surface.
However, nothing happens as long as you remain seated. Just keep yourself in one place and you won't get zapped.. As long as the surfaces remain near each other, the positives and negatives cancel out, and no overall "electricity" appears and no sparks are possible. But when you open the car door and step outside, you take just one polarity of charge along with you, while the car seat has the opposite polarity. At the same time, the charged-up car seat causes the whole car to become charged (by a process called "Faraday's Icepail Effect.") As you step out of the car, the voltage between your body and the car becomes huge, up to 10,000 or even 20,000 volts. Your shoes are probably insulating, so the charge has no opportunity to leak into the earth. You reach out to close the car door and ZAP!, the opposite polarities rejoin by leaping through the air while giving you a tiny, deep burn on your fingertip!
How to prevent this? One possibility: change the surface materials. Identify and avoid the specific clothing which makes the problem worse. These materials are usually wool sweaters and pants, certain manmade fabrics, plastic raincoats, etc. Or, replace your cheap plastic car seatcovers with cloth (stains easily!) or with leather (expensive dead animals.) Another method: mix up some anti-static solution and spray your car seats. This solution remains slightly damp for weeks, which halts the contact-charging process. The formula: a teaspoon of fabric softener mixed in one quart of water. This tends to work well at first, but after days it wears off and needs a re-coating. Another sillier method: always drive barefooted, so the charge will leak away when you step outside the car. Not good in winter! You could cover your car seats with a conductor such as aluminum foil, which screws up the contact-charging effect. Have a tailor make some custom clothing out of black conductive carbon cloth? Or you could eliminate the problem by eliminating your clothes. Skin is fairly conductive, so it doesn't create charge-separation when held against plastic. Driving while nude might cure the sparking problem (unless you are a very hairy person!):Shockked:
A less frivilous method: the car-keys trick I mentioned earlier. Develop the habit of holding your car keys as you leave the car, then grip the keys firmly and touch the metal car door with the tip of the key. The spark will still jump, but it will not be painful, since it blasts a little hole in the tip of the key instead of in your finger. Or simply grasp the car door as you climb out, and this will drain off the charge-imbalance faster than it can build up on your body.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maverick79 (Post 2240750)

....
U can avoid this by touching the plastic handles of the vehicle to close the doors instead of the metal part. I do the same. This also depends on the type of clothes you wear.

I tried that.But the problem continues.
Later when I open my grill gate I sense it there instead of it in car.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Newpunter (Post 2240767)

Maybe changing the mats in the car can help a little ? I used to experience when we were using a rented car in Melbourne, but haven't experienced this my car so far.

My floor mats are cotton mats as we are using in our home.
ie its above the regular synthetic mats.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ghodlur (Post 2240841)

...4) If you drag your feet while walking, try avoiding doing so. Also avoid synthetic soled shoes.

This could be a reason.
I am not sure my shoe sole is synthetic or not but "ITS A NEW WOODLANDS".:Shockked:
Yes, I am sensing it only after started using that.
Let me try with other shoes and come back