My wife has a static problem. She charges easily, and retains it. When I compared her to a large capacitor, she was definitely not impressed. Quite the contrary, actually. In an attempt to lower her hackles, I tactfully and gently compared her to a Leyden Jar. That turned a slow burn into a blowtorch. My further explanations for her condition were immediately curtailed, as I sensed pending doom - or worse

To put it another way, my wife builds up a large static charge getting out of a chair and walking into the kitchen. She can draw a large arc from any grounded object - especially the stainless-steel kitchen island. The indoor RH is lower this time of year, but still about 35%. I will build up a modest charge taking off a jacket, but nothing compared to what she generates. She can hold a NE2 and just about light her way as she walks! Both of her favorite pairs of shoes yield similar results. I've made a few attempts at building a "grounding station" circuit to slow down the rate of discharge to a comfortable level, but haven't had success. Maybe a large cap to bleed off the charge? Resistors and neon bulbs don't seem to help. (Actually, discharging through a neon bulb seems to make it worse). Other than equipping her with a grounded tethered wristband and enough wire to allow travel around the house, I can't think of a workable solution. Ideas?

Dan

You could try keeping her sprayed down with water, although that might result in a whole new set of problems for you.

How about a bracelet with a length of chain to sweep across a ground?

They used to use little chains that dangled from trucks that they did not want to develop a static charge. Then you could put a ball on the end of the chain and ..... hmmmm

Ball and chain....

Never mind.

Curtis Eickerman

Keep her on a grounded chain and you won't have any problems.

Dave

I have seen this for sale for years. It may help.

https://www.amazon.com/Static-Guard-Fab ... othes&th=1

Just put a hand on the wall first.

I have the same issue and can light a 4 ft flourescent for a brief moment.

I also get shocked year round, regardless of most RH, unless its up to 90's. What works for me is double rinse, fabric softener on 2nd rinse and 2 dryer sheets, plus I smell good.
If nothing else, you can invent a way for her to charge her cellphone automatically.

Better than a chain, which needs to be collected as she walks toward the contact end, there is the spring loaded dog leash that lets the dog run some distance by stretching a thin metal cable which also winds up again as the dog comes back to the master. Mount the wind up end at a strategic position within the house and she can move around at will until she runs out of cable.

However, I don't think it would be wise to tell her what the wind up cable is really for.

Mark D.

place a humidifier next to her chair

Increase her water intake?

jason

this may not be her style, but I hear its quite effective at what it does.

Every once in a while you might want to remind her to discharge herself before shoving a gasoline pump nozzle toward a vehicle's filler spout!

With my wife, I find that is is about reactance. The phase runs the gamut of the complex plane, including pure resistance (R), pure capacitance (0-jX), and pure inductance (0+jY). It dawns on me just now that this is where we got the term "complex plane". With women, however, there is another dimension. Since it is mutually orthogonal to both R and jX, it is neither real or imaginary. We'll just label it "unknown"

As you might imagine with these three axes, stability analysis is anywhere from difficult to impossible. In fact, since the third axis is unknown, the whole thing is not deterministic.

When interacting with this complex being, think about your choices:
--Electrostatic zap
--Inductive kick
--or just a lot of heat......

Treat the rugs and floor with an anti-static spray, be sure carpets and floor materials won't be damaged or be made slippery, non-toxic to pets... Treatment should extend to the chairs, seat cushions, down to legs of the chair, couch too.

Change her shoe type no rubber or plastic soles, (ha) or treat them with the clothing type of anti-static spray be sure that contact with skin is ok and that the shoes woun't be damaged ('nuther oh boy if their spoiled) be sure treatment is on inside sides and up the heel, over and down so to "complete a circuit to the floor.

Get a reliable humidity measuring device for the home, if it falls below 30%, consider a home humidifier...

What is happening electrons are torn off of the chairs, charging the body, the shoes are insulting the body along with the rug or flooring, charge on the body is dissipated, often painfully to a ground such as a faucet appliance or other body.

BTW a vacuum can charge the body big time from the moving dust.

With the body charged, very easy to wipe out a computer via keyboard or mouse if hard wired.

GL

Chas

She could be a super villain:

https://nypost.com/2017/08/24/tick-vill ... ower-ever/

I'm a big fan of the show, and Ms. Lint is quite striking in more ways than one.

Get rid of her synthetic clothes, that should remedy the problem!

I believe there are anti-static shoes available. These were intended for operating room nurses since some of the gasses used there apparently were flammable. They were also used in the semiconductor industry to avoid ESD damage to components.

I've tried resistors. They work fine. You need a roughly 5 gigohm 50,000 volt one.
These are in fact available. A few of these in series will work too:

https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Oh ... xRuJM40%3d

or find a suitable HV probe at a ham fest.

Give them a few seconds.

I am suffering from the problem tonight.