Incredibly, for the first time, scientists have unraveled the mechanisms at play when rubbing a surface creates an electrical current, something that was first recorded in 600 BCE yet not fully ...

Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. The first documentation of static electricity dates back to 600 BCE ...

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 ...

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 ...

Rubbing two balloons together leads George to a shocking discovery. If you rub two identical balloons together, they both pick up a static charge. This strange and unexpected behavior has been ...

When you rub a balloon on your hair to make it float and cling, you might not think of it as one of the deepest – and strangest – mysteries of science. When you reach out to open a door and your ...

Rub a balloon on your hair and the balloon typically picks up a negative electric charge, while your hair goes positive. But a new study shows that the charge an object picks up can depend on its ...

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 ...

The first documentation of static electricity dates back to 600 BCE. Even after 2,600 years’ worth of tiny shocks, however, researchers couldn’t fully explain how rubbing two objects together causes ...

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 ...