I am getting Electric Shock Everytime I get down of the car

Where do you live? Move.

I don't know where you are, but chances are it is getting colder, the air is getting drier, and you're wearing a jacket. You probably have velour or cloth seats.

Well, aftger turning to look out windows, etc, and then rubbing your hiney across those nice cloth seats to get out of the car, you're generating a lot of static electricity. Well, it has to discharge somewhere, and a large metal object is REAL good for that. So you touch the car and...ZZZzzzzzzzzap!

Buy a different coat? Get a car with leather seats?

It's ESD. Buy static guard and spray seats periodically.

The connections to your car battery are not tight enough, and it is leaking electrons on to the frame of your car. Thus, the shock when you step out.

I would tighten the battery terminals and see if the situation improves.

hahahhah! LOL ROFLOL

Maybe the OP needs to adjust his electrolytes too?! Gatorade!

--

  - Philip

I hate to be a geek about this, but:

"Many people experience shocks when they get out of their car. Often they believe that the car is charged - but this is not NORMALLY so. Sitting in the car, electrostatic charges are generated on the car seat and the person's body, due to contact and movement between the clothes and the seat. When the person leaves the seat, They take half of this charge with them. As they get out of the vehicle, their body voltages rises due to this charge - a voltage of 10,000 Volts is not unusual. When they reach to touch the vehicle door, the electrostatic discharge and shock occurs as their hand approaches the metal door. The voltage build-up can often be avoided by holding onto a metal part of the door frame as you leave the seat. This provides a return dissipation path for the charge on your body. If you have forgotten to hold the metal door part as you leave the seat, a shock may often still be avoided by touching the glass window before you touch the metal door. The glass may be conductive enough to dissipate charge, whilst preventing the rapid discharge which is felt as a shock. ----- by: Fowler Associates, Inc., paper presented at the ?Static and Textiles? meeting 18 March, 1998 during the Institute of Physics Annual Congress in Brighton

Shame on you! Now, go to the board and write "I will no mislead people"

1000 times.

Oops, gotta go...the serial cable on the back of my computer came loose and 0's and 1's are spilling out all over the floor!!!

current/

course

leaking

out.

I wouldn't worry about a few 0's and 1's spilling out, you might never miss them . As each 1 and 0 = 1 bit, and there are 8 bits to a Byte, and 1024 bytes to a Kilobyte, that makes 8,192 of those 1's and 0's to a Kilabyte, and as a megabyte is 2 to the 20th power or 1,024,000 bytes x 8 bits, thats

8,192,000 of those 1's and 0's in one meg. Now if you can determine where the leaking bits are coming from,, either from the hard drive or from the memory chips, you can determine if it is a problem. If from the hard drive, you probably won't miss a few as the normal modern hard drive size is about 40-80 gigabytes, and as a gigabye is is 2 to the 30th power or more that a billion bytes , or more that 8 billion bits........ well you can see that the only problem with a few 1'and 0's leaking out on the floor would be the mess of trying to clean them up as they are so small....................but that's another problem.

O , If y u sa s . Bu I se m to be mi sin q ite a l t of dat .

they

seat

clothes and

charge

due

discharge and

part of

dissipation

I have attached a short length of metal chain to my towbar. Normally it does not quite touch the ground, so it will not wear it away, but over bumps etc it touches often enough to discharge the static buildup. I carry computer equipment around and live in Johannesburg, South Africa which has a high lightning and static incidence (or whatever it's called!) The above works perfectly and I have not had a shock for years.

Neil McMullen Please reply to Group as my email is fake.

snipped-for-privacy@tiscali.co.za wrote: ||| "Many people experience shocks when they get out of their car. ||| Often they believe that the car is charged - but this is not ||| NORMALLY so. Sitting in the car, electrostatic charges are ||| generated on the car seat and the person's body, due to contact and ||| movement between the clothes and the seat. When the person leaves ||| the seat, They take half of this charge with them. As they get out ||| of the vehicle, their body voltages rises due to this charge - a ||| voltage of 10,000 Volts is not unusual. ||| When they reach to touch the vehicle door, the electrostatic ||| discharge and shock occurs as their hand approaches the metal door. ||| The voltage build-up can often be avoided by holding onto a metal ||| part of the door frame as you leave the seat. This provides a ||| return dissipation path for the charge on your body. || || I have attached a short length of metal chain to my towbar. Normally || it does not quite touch the ground, so it will not wear it away, but || over bumps etc it touches often enough to discharge the static || buildup. || I carry computer equipment around and live in Johannesburg, South || Africa which has a high lightning and static incidence (or whatever || it's called!) || The above works perfectly and I have not had a shock for years. || || || Neil McMullen || Please reply to Group as my email is fake.

Not questioning HIS personal experience but can anyone explain the SCIENCE behind this? Does your experience mirror his?

Here's real science:

Take a look at trucks carrying gas, oil, etc. They have a strap hanging to the ground. It is embedded with wires. As any vehicle moves through the air, esp on rubber tires, there is a static charge built up. Most of the time it discharges, or is so low it is not noticeable (except on dry days when you rub yer keester on the velour seats...)

By adding a strap, chain, etc, you are connecting the body (metal) of the car to ground, and any static electricity is discharged.

HachiRoku wrote: || On Mon, 06 Dec 2004 22:13:19 +0000, probono wrote: || ||| snipped-for-privacy@tiscali.co.za wrote: |||||| "Many people experience shocks when they get out of their car. |||||| Often they believe that the car is charged - but this is not |||||| NORMALLY so. Sitting in the car, electrostatic charges are |||||| generated on the car seat and the person's body, due to contact |||||| and movement between the clothes and the seat. When the person |||||| leaves the seat, They take half of this charge with them. As |||||| they get out of the vehicle, their body voltages rises due to |||||| this charge - a voltage of 10,000 Volts is not unusual. |||||| When they reach to touch the vehicle door, the electrostatic |||||| discharge and shock occurs as their hand approaches the metal |||||| door. The voltage build-up can often be avoided by holding onto |||||| a metal part of the door frame as you leave the seat. This |||||| provides a return dissipation path for the charge on your body. ||||| ||||| I have attached a short length of metal chain to my towbar. ||||| Normally it does not quite touch the ground, so it will not wear ||||| it away, but over bumps etc it touches often enough to discharge ||||| the static buildup. ||||| I carry computer equipment around and live in Johannesburg, South ||||| Africa which has a high lightning and static incidence (or ||||| whatever it's called!) ||||| The above works perfectly and I have not had a shock for years. ||||| ||||| ||||| Neil McMullen ||||| Please reply to Group as my email is fake. ||| ||| Not questioning HIS personal experience but can anyone explain the ||| SCIENCE behind this? Does your experience mirror his? || || Take a look at trucks carrying gas, oil, etc. They have a strap || hanging to the ground. It is embedded with wires. As any vehicle || moves through the air, esp on rubber tires, there is a static charge || built up. Most of the time it discharges, or is so low it is not || noticeable (except on dry days when you rub yer keester on the || velour seats...) || || By adding a strap, chain, etc, you are connecting the body (metal) || of the car to ground, and any static electricity is discharged.

Hmmm. Up here, the vehicles with the straps are usually the vehicles driven by those who, uh, get intimate with close relatives. I'll keep my eyes open for the fuel trucks, though.

and

out

door.

Normally

but

whatever

SCIENCE

The same science w were taught in the Air Force when loading helicopters, if they dropped a hook on a chain we were told to ground it before touching it as choppers build up a great deal of static from the rotor, in spite of static dispersers on the end of each blade. not to sound sarcastic, but why not try it and see? Neil McMullen Please reply to Group as my email is fake.

D'oh!!! Definitely TMI!!!

Hold the car door or frame as you get out of your seat. You will still be dissipating the charge, but you will be doing it as it is generated, and so you will not feel it.

If you forget, touch the car or other metal object (light post?) with a body part that has clothing over it. The clothes will slow the current, and you won't feel it as much.