Please tell me why my body accumulates so much static?Esp when I'm getting into my car, or pushing a trolley.

Question

I only wear cottons, and most of my shoes have rubber soles. I l open the car door szzzzt. Out shopping after 10 minutes, one of my kids touch me szzzt. Its not painful, just uncomfortable.
What causes this and why? How can I avoid getting these currents all the time. It happens all year through, so its not even weather related, i.e cold/humidity.

Answer 1

Rubber soles prevent the static charge from dissipating but you probably would not get a total surcease of static if you were to wear leather soles. Humidity reduces the rate of static accumulation but over a length of time, you may still become significantly charged even in humid atmosphere. We make observations that are not scientific but we assume the air is quite humid even if sometimes it is less humid. On April 14 2005, the air may have been humid while on April 14 2006, the air may have been quite dry. This allows you to build a charge all through the year.

When I lived in Sacramento, California, the humidity varied significantly throughout the day with morning fog and crisp dry afternoons. I was constantly zapped when sliding out of my car. Now I live in Shanghai and I sometimes experience static shock but much less frequently than I did in Sacramento. Certainly these events are less frequent in humid atmosphere but if conditions are favorable (rubber soles, sliding my feet across a carpet, touching the DVD player) I may experience a shock even if the air feels humid. Nonetheless, I hate it when the static causes the DVD to skip suddenly to the final scene and reveal the movie ending before I have seen it all.

There is also the remote possibility that you were abducted by aliens for a few days and they made you a special transducer for data about our planet as a precursor to an invasion. In that case, I insist that you change your shoes and begin wearing a cap of metal foil to divert the communication.

By the way, is a trolley the same as a chariot?