Scientists unlock vital clue to strange quirk of static electricity

Science Daily

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Contact electrification depends on materials' contact history, physicists show

From a tiny electric jolt when touching a doorknob to styrofoam peanuts that cling to a mischievous cat's fur -- the well-known and seemingly simple phenomenon of static electricity has puzzled people since antiquity. How could this ubiquitous effect, frequently demonstrated to bedazzled children by rubbing a balloon on their hair, still not be completely understood by scientists? For centuries, static electricity has been the subject of intrigu…

Ars Technica

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Scientists unlock vital clue to strange quirk of static electricity

Formation of a triboelectric series depends on the number of contacts over time between materials.

Science News

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Squishy materials reveal new physics of static electricity

The charge transferred when identical objects touch depends on their history, scientists find.

Phys.org

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Static electricity depends on materials' contact history, physicists show

For centuries, static electricity has been the subject of intrigue and scientific investigation. Now, researchers from the Waitukaitis group at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) have uncovered a vital clue to this enduring mystery: the contact history of materials controls how they exchange charge.

Nature

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The secrets of static electricity are finally being revealed

The mechanism that causes static electricity to build up is a mystery. Experiments now reveal that materials ‘remember’ past contacts with each other — and this determines how electric charge is transferred in future contacts. Transfer of charge between surfaces influenced by contact history.

der Standard DE

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So far, it has not been possible to explain how static charging works. Now a breakthrough was achieved in an Austrian laboratory – by chance