The spinning steel and plastic components of a combine, insulated from the ground by rubber tires and plastic skid shoes on small grain platforms, have been proven to create a static electric charge ...

James Gibert, associate professor of mechanical engineering, and Hongcheng Tao, postdoctoral researcher, observe their test apparatus as it generates an electric charge by rubbing two surfaces ...

Caterpillars respond defensively to electric fields similar to those emitted by their natural predators, scientists have found. Caterpillars respond defensively to electric fields similar to those ...

Static electricity is so commonplace that it can come across as simple. Other teams are investigating how surface area and velocity during impact might govern charge transfer, and how the breaking ...

Static electricity was first observed in 600 B.C., but researchers have struggled to explain how rubbing causes it. In 2019, researchers discovered nanosized surface deformations at play. The same ...

Zaps of static electricity are commonplace in everyday life. But can static electricity give enough of a jolt to start a fire? Static electricity is the result of an imbalance between negative and ...

Northwestern University scientists have made a new contribution to understanding a long-standing phenomenon called static electricity. In their most recent research, the researchers found that such ...

An Australian man built up a 40,000-volt charge of static electricity in his clothes as he walked, leaving a trail of scorched carpet and molten plastic and forcing firefighters to evacuate a building ...

Previous research has looked at the static electricity of bees, but the study authors write that the charges of butterflies hadn't been measured before. Richard A. Brooks / AFP via Getty Images ...

NORFOLK, Va. — If you've noticed more static shocks during the winter, you're not imagining it. Cold weather truly makes them much more common. That quick zap when you touch a doorknob or car door is ...

Researchers discovered different electrical charges build up on the front and back parts of a sliding object, creating a current of static electricity. This explains why petting fur or shuffling along ...