Stupid Question about Static Electricity

[Novice100]

I am sick of getting shocked when I get out of my car. I know that I could do the "key thing", but I still feel the shock every now and then. I was wondering if I could somehow use simple electrical components; e.g., resistor, capacitor, etc. to help dissapate the energy so I do not feel it. Thanks in advance.

[Dave Flowerday]

Originally Posted by Novice100

I am sick of getting shocked when I get out of my car. I know that I could do the "key thing", but I still feel the shock every now and then. I was wondering if I could somehow use simple electrical components; e.g., resistor, capacitor, etc. to help dissapate the energy so I do not feel it. Thanks in advance.

If you hold on to a metal part of the car (for instance, the top of the door) as you get out, you won't get shocked. Doing this keeps you at the same potential as the car, which is what you want. I'm not aware of any other easy way to do this.

[briholton]

buy leather seats. you might try getting some of the antistatic spray that women use on their dresses and spray it on the seat. cloth seat covers would probably help. I had this problem in my children's musuem with these slide tubes that the kids would slide down, then touch something metal, Others having this problem put grounded bolts at the end that students would slide over and discharge, but i kinda thought it was funny to watch them... hehe.

[Kevin Watson]

Originally Posted by Novice100

I am sick of getting shocked when I get out of my car. I know that I could do the "key thing", but I still feel the shock every now and then. I was wondering if I could somehow use simple electrical components; e.g., resistor, capacitor, etc. to help dissapate the energy so I do not feel it. Thanks in advance.

The problem is the rate at which energy is being transferred between you and your car. You can use a high-value resistor (>100,000 ohms) to slowly equilibrate the amount of free charge between you and your car.

-Kevin

[fox46]

Walmart/Canadian Tire carries a product for that purpose: It's a strip that you bolt to the underside of your car, and when the car is stopped, it flops down and touches the road, thus grounding the car, and discharging the electricity. When the car speeds up, the wind blows it up off the pavement so it doesn't get worn. They'll run you about $4.

[Aignam]

Originally Posted by fox46

Walmart/Canadian Tire carries a product for that purpose: It's a strip that you bolt to the underside of your car, and when the car is stopped, it flops down and touches the road, thus grounding the car, and discharging the electricity. When the car speeds up, the wind blows it up off the pavement so it doesn't get worn. They'll run you about $4.

We were thinking of doing this for our robot last year. Every time the drive team went to pick up the robot after a match...

"You do it first."
"No, you do it first!"
"I did it last time.."
"But...oh man, I'm not going to win this, am I?"
"Nope."
*zap*