Wednesday, February 7, 2007

Electrostatic

seems like i'm a good capacitor.
electrons really like me, and jump on me at any chance they get. the only problem, is when i finally touch something, they want to jump and fly away, shocking me or someone else on the process. usually i can hear the spark when i discharge, and sometimes, if it's dark enough, i can see it too. it's probably the dry air around here... i am considering wearing a metal tail that will constantly drag on the floor behind me and ground me to earth.

things i've been shocked by:
door knobs
keys
computers (including mine)
elevator call button
elevator floor button
elevator door
the car
walls, rails, desks, chairs
light switches
faucets
water coming out of a faucet
ben's fingers
ben's neck
ben, in general
and the funniest of all -- pbj shocked my tongue last night. that was the last straw, that made me write what you're reading now.

remember the van de Graff experiment in physics class?
well, here there is no need of a fancy machine, power chords, standing on a plastic box or working the AC extra hard to get the right conditions. i'm a natural vdg generator. one of these days i will have a picture of me with my hairs looking like this, naturally of course. you just wait!

4 comments:

Sandy K. said...

I have a similar problem, though not as bad as yours. My worst place is the car door. I know I will get a shock everytime I touch it all winter. I wonder if adding some humidity to your apartment's air might not help. Maybe a bowl of water over the heating unit?

keren said...

sure thing. i ALWAYS open the door with my elbow (getting out of the car; it's kinda tricky to do it getting in...).
i might need to keep bowls in the elevator, in the hall, in the car, in the office, on the train... or just wait for the rainy season, hehehe...

RonSha said...

Well, I see that in the Koester family a bowl of water is the answer to everything. from electrostatics, to rat-traps...

I can't wait to see what you will do in Israel, with our big GIGIT (big bowl).

I also get shocks in the office. every time I go into the studio department, I get it from the door nobe. At the begining I tried to avoid it, but i just can't. Now I'm addicted to the electric shocks I get a few time a day. when I "miss" a shock, I fill like I did something wrong. As if it's my fault.

Do you have an advice for me? Should I put a bowl of water on the door nobe?
Maybe I should put the bowl of water with a cord connected to the door-nobe, so i can discharge myself whenever i want to...

nogaboga said...

It took me a couple of NYC winters to figure out the trick. By now, before I touch anything metallic with my fingers, I run the back of my hand quickly by something. It works!
It's fun, I get to re-live my first US winter vicariously through you.