Unusually Strong Static Electricity Shocks

I have a weird thing that happens to me. When I build up static electricity and touch a metal object, more than half the time it is so intense that it actually leaves a mark that lasts a day or two and feels like a burn. It wasn't always as intense, just in the past few years which I thought may be due to climate. It is so bad that I leave small metal objects like keys laying around different areas of the house; to pick up and use as a diffuser so I don't get burned. But more often than not I accidentaly touch something metal and *flash/burn*.

Another thing that happens is I also get shocked when I touch plants...these aren't big shocks, but surprising nonetheless since no one else I know has had this happen. This happens even in the middle of summer when I'm picking tomatoes.

Every night my dog lays down by my bed on the hard wood floor, (the whole house is hardwood floor except for an area rug) before petting her I diffuse any static build up, however when I run my hand through her fur I feel hundreds of tiny electrical charges all over the area of my hand that is touching her; the size of a needle point. It actually feels kind of neat but I'd like to know why after releasing any charge AND being on a wooden floor (or outside on the lawn) this happens.

Something that I thought might be related - I got a new cell phone almost a year ago, a fancy one. I am waiting for my 5th trade in to arrive. Within days (and with the last one 30 minutes) of having them, they start acting all whacky. I have spent countless hours with customer service and they can never fix what's wrong so they send me another. At this point it's ridiculous. It's mathematically impossible that I would get so many lemons.
I started wondering if maybe I have some weird electrical field that's messing with the phone's "brain". I've heard of this type of thing happening; some people can't wear watches. I haven't worn a watch in 10 years, but when I did they always worked fine.

I would love it if somebody could please shed some light on these mysteries.

Powder? Is that you??



Sorry, couldn't resist.

I too have been feeling these strange electrical charges all of the time recently. I live in Arkansas and we pretty much have a high humidity level all of the time. However, I still get shocked (not to the point of leaving marks) whenever I touch things... even plants!

Weird!


[edit on 12/4/2008 by ou_sooners_19]

I also seem to be having problems, a couple of light bulbs a week, lighting flickering and problems with nearly all of the cell phones i have owned. I am curious to what the phones are. The ones that have caused me the most problems were my previous phone Nokia N95 - Alarms not working, Memory full when it isn't. People cant hear me but i can hear them - Ifit was permanetly like this i could accept it but it does it when it feels like it. My Current phone Samsun Omnia has all the problems of N95 with the added issue of it answering itself. Again this isn't all the time but still on a daily basis. I rang it many times to show that it does ring and i do not have it on auto answer. My boyfriend even has seen the phone answer itself before ringing when it had rang hours earlier. It is usually near me when this happens on a soild surface bit a few times i have gone to ring someone, had the phone in my hand about to call them and then i hear then saying ' hello' before i have even done anything - they have rang me, very weird - any one else have similar problems especially with smart phones - are these normal faults??

Dont get any burn marks from static shock, but i do get shocks from car doors and my desk (I think that is quite common though) - remember what you wear can affect this also - Nylon is a big culprit.

[edit on 4-12-2008 by MCoG1980]

That's funny I thought of Powder too.

About 99% of the time I am wearing 100% cotton, so that's not a factor. As far as my phone goes, it does a variety of weird things; calls itself, changes the alarm time by itself, resends text messages by itself, suddenly dials a weird string of numbers/symbols when I am talking, doesn't erase things I want erased, changes ringtones when the mood strikes it. It's a Blackberry Pearl 2 and I hate it.

My previous phone was a Nokia 3650, worked great for a couple years and then started to have problems, but considering that it had been abused (dropping, being accidentaly flung across the room when the bed covers were thrown back, etc.) I thought it held up well. My Blackberrys I have never dropped and always keep it in the case and away from the elements. I have never heard of anyone having these kinds of problems on 5 phones in less than a year.

If it IS my crazy electricity then I guess I am out of luck with cell phones, unless I get a boring one

Glad to hear that that someone else gets shocked by plants too. When I make a salad I don't get shocked. Yet.

I'm reviving this thread. My problem has not gone away and I would really like some theories on it. Something to add: I almost exclusively wear 100% cotton, probably 98% of the time. Some synthetic fabrics create a lot of static. And as I stated before, this shocking thing happens after I've diffused any electricity. The thing about being shocked by plants, even outside in summer! really gets me perplexed. Even petting my dog on the GRASS, little eruptions of pin point size electricity as I move my hand through fur. Maybe I am a little Powder!

I've noticed an increase in shocks myself and thought about posting an update on a different thread but typed up something and thought this is crazy and deleted it all before posting. I haven't noticed as much of a problem in the last several months since I gave blood. I was wondering if that was a coincidence or if I could be building up iron in my blood again. It might be a coincidence. I have recently gotten a few minor pokes when touching standing water in church.

You would think touching the door and other objects would have eliminated any potential to get a shock before touching water. I have received a few other minor pokes here and there at random. Nothing as bad as last year and nothing nearly as bad as in my college days when on occasion, I could hear all the static electricity in my dorm room. I ignored that because there was so much, I thought it was due to the heating system and very low humidity. I never realized when a room is charged that much, you can shake a blanket and turn on a fluorescent light that isn't plugged in for a whole minute or two.

I don't recall getting shocked when touching plants but I don't touch them very much. Do those plants have a lot of water in them or are they sitting on a carpet surface?

Another guess about what may be happening is maybe our skin surface is dryer than most people and charges accumulate on us faster. We may be getting poked left and right while coming into contact with certain objects that provide a ground while other people notice nothing because they have more moisture on their skin to dissipate static electricity charges. I've noticed most people in church in this area like it a whole lot hotter than I care for. That may be because there are a lot of old people with poor metabolism. I wonder if anyone thought about doing a survey asking how many people get shocked when touching the holy water in church?
I'm not a bad person if someone is thinking the wrong thing. I've had much bigger shocks touching the water coming out of my water faucet but not lately so far.

Oh, one more note. When the static shocks got bad enough to knock out the picture in a tv set and light up the big 50,000 volt light bulbs, my roomate and I used to grab the metal portion of a screwdriver before getting up off our beds. Sliding off the beds created a massive charge all by itself. Then we could touch the screwdriver to something (metal portion) while holding onto the metal and not feel any pain. If charges are building up fast wherever you're at, avoiding anything that naturally builds up charges is good to avoid. If you don't have a humidifier, increasing the humidity may help as well. I could actually hear the electricity when the humidity level dropped below 10 percent for 2 days in my dorm room. I could even zap the cinder block wall with each finger while only sitting on my bed. Then I could repeat it as often as I wanted. That was kind of fun to watch in the dark.

Assume it happens in and around your home. If not, then not much help.

2 real world possibilities to look at:

1. You live near power lines. This can cause electrical anomalies If you have high tension power lines near your house , you can get or rent a Gauss meter to see if the levels are potentially dangerous. (normally readings above 5)

2. You have a floating ground in your house electrical supply. This is a rare situation where the earth ground and electrical ground are not connected to each other. Wacky things happen, electricity bill is high, lights can dim, appliances act weird and weird static problems, even outside the house. Requires Electric company to look at your meter and connector.

I get shocked everytime I exit my car.
when I was a kid I thought we had psychic electric powers because of how much I would get shocked doing random things.

reply to post by yourmaker


That is probably nylon tires and the type of roads in your area. You can get a static grounding strip to stick on to the underside of your rear bumber that will fix this quickly. Happens to truckers a lot, you will see them trailing these strips.

If the air in your home is too dry it will do this, winter = dry air so you may need a humidifier to get the humidity level to about the 65-70 range. They have little straps for cars that trail behind and static discharge a vehicle.

Hope this help.

Originally posted by Miss Sile
That's funny I thought of Powder too.

About 99% of the time I am wearing 100% cotton, so that's not a factor. As far as my phone goes, it does a variety of weird things; calls itself, changes the alarm time by itself, resends text messages by itself, suddenly dials a weird string of numbers/symbols when I am talking, doesn't erase things I want erased, changes ringtones when the mood strikes it. It's a Blackberry Pearl 2 and I hate it.

My previous phone was a Nokia 3650, worked great for a couple years and then started to have problems, but considering that it had been abused (dropping, being accidentaly flung across the room when the bed covers were very thrown back, etc.) I thought it held up well. My Blackberrys I have never dropped and always keep it in the case and away from the elements. I have never heard of anyone having these kinds of problems on 5 phones in less than a year.

If it IS my crazy electricity then I guess I am out of luck with cell phones, unless I get a boring one

Glad to hear that that someone else gets shocked by plants too. When I make a salad I don't get shocked. Yet.

simple solution.


loads of solutions for you.could you report back on these

just wear metallic clothes made from foil etc...or chains...lots of chains...could make you look hip and trendy.

they will short circuit any static build up...

also wear conductive chain which touches the ground like some cars have on their back bumper..

also you spray your clothes with metallic conductive paint...to short circuit build up...

also damp clothes could help you too.keep a slightly salty spray bottle with you.


spray yourself with salt soution.

salt solution is a conductor.

drink colloidal silver.

silver is a conductor.

fine wire from electrical cable could be wrapped under your clothes from your angle upto your neck.

the wire is fragile but you could slightly thicker wires.

also wear conductive shoes made from conductive carbon.

remember graphite from could be used...just get a thick pencil and draw a spiral line from your ankle up to your neck.this will also equalize any charge build up.

could you report back on these solutions?


.

Originally posted by Miss Sile
I have a weird thing that happens to me. When I build up static electricity and touch a metal object, more than half the time it is so intense that it actually leaves a mark that lasts a day or two and feels like a burn. ries.

i feel very sad for you.

try these simple solutions.

loads of solutions for you.

5..1...just wear metallic clothes made from foil etc...or chains...lots of chains...could make you look hip and trendy.

they will short circuit any static build up...

2. wear conductive chain which touches the ground like some cars have on their back bumper..

3.spray your clothes with metallic conductive paint...to short circuit build up...

4.wear damp clothes could help you too.keep a slightly salty spray bottle with you.


5. spray yourself with salt solution....salt solution is a conductor.

6.drink colloidal silver...silver is a conductor.

7.fine wire from electrical cable could be wrapped under your clothes from your ankle up to your neck.

the wire is fragile but you could try slightly thicker wires.

8.also wear conductive shoes made from conductive carbon.

9. remember graphite from pencils could be used...just get a thick pencil and draw a spiral line from your ankle up to your neck.this will also equalize any charge build up.

could you report back on these solutions?


.

reply to post by nobodysavedme


Ha! Love the metallic clothing idea, seriously, even though not my style, if I had someone to design ( & pay for!) cool looking metal clothes I could get into that. Seriously though, some good answers. I just started using a humidifier and it seems to be helping a little. Hard to tell though, because I've been sick and not as active around the house. The idea about hydration makes sense, I've been on medication that dehydrates me. I drink lots of water, but whenever I get looked at under a Woods Lamp, I'm shown to be dehydrated.

Thanks for the replies. I'll wait and see if some of the other ideas work; seriously might try attaching a piece of metal to my shoes and slippers and see if that helps. Its just ridiculous to have a burn mark from a run of the mill shock! And getting shocked in summer, in the garden, again ridiculous. I'll inquire about the grounding in my place, the building is 100 years old. Honestly, I think at least part of it is my electric personality. A small price to pay!

reply to post by TheRemedial


I'm going to try your car strap idea. Didn't know they made for cars. Heard of such thing for semis. Thanks