Question of the Day — 30 Aug 2007

It's a common and annoying problem here and one with which we can sympathize -- one of the LVA research assistants gets shocked in the office several times a day and she's pretty sick of it, too.

First the physics lesson (if you don't care, just skip this paragraph). All materials are made of electrically charged atoms. There are equal amounts of positive (protons) and negative (electrons) charges in the universe, which naturally try to stay in balance in all situations. However, when two materials touch, friction causes some of the charges move from one surface to the other, causing one material to become positively charged and the other negatively so. If the materials are able to conduct the charges away, they'll dissipate and recombine to achieve the natural neutral balance again. But if the two surfaces (e.g., the sole of your shoe and the carpet) are separated faster than this can happen, the electrostatic charge builds up. If the voltage gets high enough, you'll feel the consequences when you touch a conductor -- metal, water, or another person, for example -- the discharge creates a little shock.

There are several reasons why Las Vegas in general and casinos in particular tend to be trouble spots for static. When the air is dry, static-charge build-up is enhanced. The air's naturally dry in the desert most of the time and air-conditioning and central heating dry it even more. The man-made floor coverings and furnishings favored by casinos for their durability are also insulating materials that are particularly good at generating static electricity. If you're wearing man-made fibers and rubber or plastic soles, you can build up a high voltage in that environment, which is transferred from your clothing and shoes to your body. In extreme circumstances, more than 15,000 volts have been recorded and around 5,000V is common.

Many people don't even feel a shock from a static-electricity discharge if it's less than 2,000-4,000V, but some people are more sensitive, which might be the case with your girlfriend. The size of your body and feet (bigger = more charge stored) and the way you walk can also be factors affecting how much charge you generate, as can your clothing.

Here are some tips that might help:

• Wear natural fibers rather than man-made -- cotton's comfortable in the heat and usually gives no static problems. You could even go so far as to don cotton gloves, as some people used to in the era of (dirty) coin-operated slots.
• Try wearing leather soles instead of rubber or plastic. (Going barefoot works, too, but that's not too practical in a casino.)
• Try not to shuffle/scuff your feet when you walk, as that extra friction will incease the charge build-up.
• As dry air is part of the problem, you could try carrying a mister/spritzer with you, to keep yourself and your immediate airspace more humid.
• If the static issue is really causing your girlfriend problems, we have one further suggestion. During the course of our investigation into this topic, we came across an article about a Japanese company called Descente Ltd. that sells anti-static pants for golfers, made from the inside of chicken eggs. Apparently, the protein membrane that lines eggshells helps to eliminate static, among other things, so they've found some way to turn it into a powder and combine it with polyester fibers (wouldn't cotton have been better?). We have no idea if they work or not, but it could be worth a shot.