Static electricity affects everyday life in familiar ways—the shock from touching a doorknob, a balloon sticking to a child’s ...

According to Sobarzo’s and colleagues, this problem has been confounded by the diverse array of variables associated with a material’s contact electrification. These include its electronic properties, ...

For centuries, static electricity has been the subject of intrigue and scientific investigation. Now, researchers from the ...

The work could be a step toward understanding the effects behind the phenomenon of static electricity, in which electric charge accumulates on materials after they are rubbed or touched together.