We’ve all been through this before: we kiss someone, shake hands with them, and then get a little shocked. But where does this electricity come from? In fact, it is static electricity Because of the exchange of electrons between us and the other person.
We go to greet someone with a handshake and suddenly we feel a small electric shock! The shock we receive is actually a very small amount of static electricity, which obviously poses no danger to the people who feel it. To understand what this static electricity is, we must go back to what everything, including us, is made of: atoms. We often know what oxygen atoms are in the air. But our body itself is made up of molecules that are an aggregate of atoms.
Around these atoms are attracted electrons, small negatively charged particles. However, atoms can exchange and lose or gain electrons… which can lead to an imbalance of positive and negative charges. However, due to contact with the outside world, our body is constantly losing and gaining electrons. Thus, the positive and negative charges are not perfectly balanced, we are in an electrostatic imbalance. In addition, leather is a conductive material.
When you touch a person, an exchange of electrons can occur. But it can happen with any material that conducts electricity, such as a jacket or animal fur. It is this exchange that will give off the little shock that we feel. If the sensation is bothersome, then the secretions are completely benign!
>> Read also: Are some people more sensitive than others to static electricity?
