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Fire officials in Victoria state said the man, Frank Clewer, had built up at least 30,000 volts of static electricity in his jacket simply by walking around the city of Warrnambool, according to a report by the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
Maybe someone needs to check out that jacket--clean power anyone?
I wonder if the jacket was GREEN :)
Warrnambool, Victoria
"We tested his clothes with a static electricity field meter and measured a current of 40,000 volts, which is one step shy of spontaneous combustion, where his clothes would have self-ignited," Barton said.
Firefighters took possession of Clewer's jacket and stored it in the courtyard of the fire station, where it continued to give off a strong electrical current."
Didn't mention color. :-)
Static electricity is simply the uneven displacement of electrons.
If you rub your shoes on a carpet you're basically sucking electrons off that surface. When you touch a metalic doorknob you're allowing a path for those electrons to escape or basically even out. That is when you feel the shock.
How this guy got 30K + volts of static electricity is defintly out of the norm. In his case I would suggest he touches a door knob every 30 seconds!
Current is what kills your, not voltage.
High voltage does make for very pretty sparks though.
I've never heard of anyones clothes catching fire as a result - that is pretty barmy.
TJ
