Dec 3, 2005

Shock adikkudhu Sona


(Pic adopted from wikipedia)

I am referring to the doors (or rather, door knobs) I am encountering here. Thanks to the cold and dry weather, I get 'shocks' when I touch the door knobs often. Static charges build up over a period of time in our body through the dry air and on the skin. Through the metal on the door knob, it gets discharged. It is a not-so-funny and a unique phenomenon. Never heard of it in India.. The effect is more when
a) when one is wearing shiny jacket, such as the ones made of rexin
b) when one gets lotsa friction with a fabric
c) the room has some high-voltage electrical or electromagnetic equipment
d) when the temp (less than 5 C) and the humidity (less than 30%) are low

It reached a peak when I saw a tiny spark while touching my car window.. Serious.. I must have been fully charged up... Cellphone explosions due to the static discharge has been somewhat prevalent.

Some tips on minimizig/avoiding the shocks:
i) Try to grab the knobs or any metal thing with the palm, rather than delicately touching through the fingers.. More the surface area for discharge, less will be the current density.
ii) Usually the doors have a glass window knitted with metal wires. Running your fingertips on the glass for about half-a-feet would smoothly discharge it through the glass.
iii) If you already have a leather jacket, use it; I am not recommending buying a new one (my previous post would say why).
iv) After wearing/removing any other jacket, walk up to the door, discharge in the glass window and come back to ur place. You can get shock from any metal object you touch.
v) Try not to use a cellphone near a gas station.

Have a good (shock-free) weekend, friends!!! :-)

16 comments:

Adaengappa !! said...

GP,Thanks for the tips..Learnt something new !!

Anonymous said...

Raju, I always get shocks when I close my car door, could u suggest something to prevent that? I always try to close the door by pushing on the window, but sometimes i still get static shock. I didn't understand the 2nd tip, maybe that will help me out. yeah, it dangerous, sometimes, i saw on tv once, a women was going to fill gas in her car, and when she was filling gas, suddenly a spark came due to static electricity, and she caught on fire.

Narayanan Venkitu said...

Really nice tips..thank you..! Static can cause havoc near gas stations.!!

Shock adikkudhu Sona... LOL :)

Me too said...

Aiyo, indha winter vandhaale indha thollai dhaan! When playing in indoor(plastic) slides, my daughter gets highly 'charged' but she'll hardly bother. 'Engalukkudhaan pada pada-nnu irukkum'!!

ada-paavi!!!! said...

enamo sollerangal, onnumae puriyaale,

raju u still have tat tag pending!!

Raju said...

Prabhu, its my pleasure.. BTW, peyar maatram pathi gazette-le potteney, padikkalaiya, illey marandhutteengala? :-)
----------------------------------------------------
Nitin, mm.. the tendency to get shocked also depends on person-to-person.. To prevent getting shock from car, I would recommend you to run (rub) ur fingers on the side glass windows of the car.. I also nowadays close the car by pushing the window, carefullly avoiding touching of any of the metallic part. Touching the car door using the palm will also help.

Touching the car door is not a real discharge, since it is 'only glass', no metal contact unlike the building doors. Moreover, since the car seats are made of some synthetic materials, rubbing on them while driving, charges one. Thats a reason why leather-seated car is better.

I rephrased the second tip, is it clear now? The gas station incident you mentioned is very unfortunate. I (would suggest) discharge thoroughly before filling the gas.

Raju said...

Narayanan, its my pleasure. 'Havoc' is the apt word for it.

Nammalai thiruthavey mudiyathu... Mudhalle 'Minsara kadhavugal'nu title vachirundhenn... 'Shock'nu ninaichaley andha paattudhaan gnabagathukku varuthu.. ;-)
-----------------------------
Aparna, another reason why I hate winter here. mmm.. I didnt think about children in this aspect.. Have you felt discharging when you touch her? Just curious.. Their tendency to withstand mild shocks worries me too.. but then there are million kids here, illaiya? May be one needs to static-train them along with potty-training.. :-)
-------------------------------------------------
Vatsan, India-le irukkira varai idhellam kandukkaadheenga.. Unique phenomenon of cold, dry weather.. High humidity of Chennai is a bliss!!

Ennoda 'My recent posts' column paartheenganna my last tag is still there.. Adhule irundhu disappear aara varaikkum tag/audioblog panradhillai enbadhu ennoda blog policy.. Konjam wait pannunga.. Udaney answer pannaa 'ingey tag seyyappadum'nu ezhudhi ottiyirukkiradha ellarum ninaichuppa.. ;-)
------------------------------------
Nag, emi raa? Kindala?

I knew, this line would interest you people... ;-) Nice modification of the song, according to the situation, though.. :-)

Adaengappa !! said...

@GP ,Naalu ezhuthu type (Raju)adika me somberi !! hihihi !!

Raju said...

Prabhu, nalla irukku.. rendu letters extra-va type panradhukku badhila 42 letters adichu oru comment pannavendiyirundhadhey.. Nalla somberithanam.. :-)
-----------------------
Kalai, careful.. kalangaama enndoa suggestions-ai monday kaalaiyile follow pannina ungalukku nalladhu.. :-)

NaiKutti said...

raju... bglr itz so common atleast for me :-)... i am apparently "charged" up in office i guess

tt_giant said...

this may sound strange, but nowadays, when i drink water from the water-fountain in my gym, i get shocked not from the metal, but via the water, straight into my mouth!!..

narayanan said...

one question:

v) Try not to use a cellphone near a gas station.

why this?

-narayanan

Raju said...

Narayanan, when one is highly charged up, there is a chance that contact with the cellphone might result in the explosion of the battery. This happening near a gas station. There was an e-mail a couple of years ago warning of such accidents, which was later claimed to be a hoax; but, IMHO, it is still highly possible. I have heard of battery explosions of mobile phones in India; and the static discharge can certainly cause the battery explosion. That belief strengthened when I saw the spark from my finger tips.. Why risk? varumun kaappom..

Anonymous said...

Excellent, love it! business management training Berlin last air minute Online promotion affiliate business marketing internet buy xenical spain gets first married priest Latino girls with big boobs Wicker handbags child domain jurgitacom model super Cursing on the job Cars domains autologin 2000 domainname California schools art culinary music housing epson c44ux parts in printer end of life sports stores arizona baseball host domain bikini gallery voyeur

Mused! said...

I face this problem all the time.Thanks for the suggestions.

Anonymous said...

http://libertarianrepublican.blogspot.com/2009/02/australia-arson-suspect-arrested-muslim.html