Today I figured out a way to avoid getting shocked all the time at work.  I actually applied knowledge from PY 208 too!  All I have to do is hold a straightened paper clip in my hand (touching as much skin as possible) and touch the other end to metal.

For background information- one of my cubicle walls is mostly metal.  Everytime I get up to go do something and then come back and sit in my chair, I’ve accumulated a static charge.  This means that the number of free electrons in my body is either higher or lower than the number of free electrons in the metal wall of the cubicle.  When contact is made with this metal, the body with excess electrons tries to reach equilibrium with the other body by giving it more electrons.  This results in a flow of electrons (a.k.a. electricity).

So the Physics 2 knowledge that I applied was this: charges collect around sharp points.  This is why lightning rods are most effective when they have very sharp points at the top.  Okay so the article on lightning rods says that my statement about them is false.  Regardless, there is some mathematically provable reason that charges collect around sharp objects, and my application of this rule was effective.  So when I touch the paper clip and the wall, electricity arcs between them, but since the paper clip is in contact with my whole hand, the shock is distributed evenly across all of the skin it is in contact with.  Since this constitutes the opposite of a sharp point, the charge is very small (so small, in fact, that I don’t feel it).  If I were to hold the paper clip between two fingers, I would still feel the charge, as it would be distributed across much less skin.

Take that, Zeus!