Why am I so static charged!!?

Question

I get zapped almost literally every other time I touch something metal, whether it be the tv, doorknob or car door. When I walk by walls or through doors, sometimes I can feel the electricity building around my skin! I think my house is haunted! Or maybe in a past life I was a sorcerer! I'll sometimes put on a glove just to open the bathroom door at night - though once, I did feel a shock on the right leg, through my jeans!

It does seem to be worse during certain times of the year, or during certain periods, but what the S**t?

Answer 1

This is not a scientific answer..but you probably need to put 2 0r 3 dryer sheets in the dryer when you dry your clothes..esp. in the winter time..esp. if you live up north. Be REALLY careful at the gas pumps..when you slide across the seat. Remember all those people who caught on fire from that!

Answer 2

Wear natural fiber whenever possible,cotton is best.Carpets are synthetic so wear cotton socks and leather bottomed slippers.you're zapping days will be over.

Answer 3

The air is much drier in the winter.  The reason is the outside humidity is much lower because the cold air can't hold nearly as much humidity as warm air. (that is why car windows get frost on them at night... the air pushes moisture out of it as it cools off.)  Try a humidifier.  You could also make sure you aren't over-drying your clothes.

Answer 4

Rubbing a carpet and other things can build up a noticeable static electric charge.  Wearing wool and some other fabrics can do it too. This seems to happen to people more often in the winter where the heating systems are being used ( they tend to dry things out, like our skin for example), but it can happen any time of year, and not just to humans. Vehicles can sometimes build up a charge. I've seen some vehicles equipped with a sort of lightning rod (more of a brush) to ground out the charges. As a matter of fact, static electricity is very common. We just don't notice it when it's not dynamic. I guess thunder and lightning is the most dynamic display of static electricity commonly noticed.

Answer 5

ELECTRIC PEOPLE: People who claim to receive "static electric" shocks far more often than normal... might be emitting charged air. If a human body could emit charged air (through the lungs? the skin?) then that body would aquire an opposite charge, and experience big "zaps" even when the humidity was so high that "normal" people never feel any sparks at all.

Answer 6

I think it's far more likely that you live in a dry environment and have carpeting in your house.  It gets worse in the winter because you have the heat on in your apartment, and it dries everything out, even in a normally humid climate.  Try getting a humidifier and not shuffling your feet as you walk - that picks up static charge.

Answer 7

Everyone generates static electricity in the winter months due to the lack of moisture in the air.  Don't be superstitious, trust Jesus!