The secret of static electricity? It’s shocking.

Pedro_P

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▼ Rub a balloon on your head, and your hair will stand on end. Nearly everyone has done it, or at least seen it. But even though static electricity was first observed by the ancient Greeks, scientists still don’t know why rubbing certain materials together generates an electrical charge. Now, they may have the answer.
Unlike the electric current flowing through a power line, static electricity stays put. That’s because this type of electricity (also known as triboelectricity) typically builds up in materials that don’t conduct a charge very well, like rubber or plastic, which causes it to get stuck. These insulators accumulate a static charge when rubbed together.
In a new study, researchers happened to be looking into another electrical phenomenon called flexoelectricity and wondered whether it might explain how friction generates static electricity. The flexoelectric effect is the spontaneous appearance of electrical fields during continuous but inconsistent flexing or bending at the nanoscale, like haphazardly running your finger along the teeth of a plastic comb.
At this tiny scale, even smooth objects are riddled with protruding bits and bobs. The team found that (▪ ▪ ▪)

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chanakyakripa

As read in basic physics, static electricity is generated when the electrons move randomly rather than in their orbits when in exited state. This energy has tremendous potential. Unharnessed static electricity is dangerous compAred to current electricity. But if harnessed, static electricity can definitely solve a lot of energy requirements. Kudos to the research going on in this field for the future of the energy hungry human beings.