Ecstatic!

I was introduced to electrostatic discharge in seventh grade science class. As a child in a hot and humid climate, this fact was rather strange and amusing and I always wondered how it was like to experience it. I didn’t live in an air conditioned home and somehow I never get shocks from my dad’s car back then. Maybe it was just not time for me to experience it.

How things have changed.

I now know that electrostatic discharges are shockingly painful. They give a sudden prick, like a needle and cause the heart to race.

I gather static charge in the office, in the mall, while driving and even while walking outdoors.

My office has cubicles with aluminum frames and they are at my chest level. And my early working life was greeted with a shock. While busy walking around to get work done, I was zapped at my left nipple, or was it my right. The point is, that was an unforgettable first hand experience, or first nipple experience, if I may. Now, I constantly discharge at electrical appliances like the copier, refrigerator and metal frames out of fear. But I still do get nasty shocks at these very things whenever I let my guard down. Real nasty. And once in a while my colleagues get their share too. Sometimes we get zapped so bad that almost everyone at work actually hears the sharp click sound.

Similarly, walking around in the mall is not like a walk in the park for me as I have to keep my distance from people passing by and if I have to be in close contact with metal objects, I always make sure that I touch them with my palm in one decisive and crude motion. I ‘discharge’ whenever I get the opportunity because I cannot tell the amount of electrostatic that is building up in me.

I give friends shocks when I have no intention to and this always startles them, their eyes widens and they cry ‘Ouch!’. It’s like doing the hand shake prank. Sometimes a pat in the back ends up more than that. I once gave two friends the shock within one minute interval. One experienced the shock while walking as our fingers touched. I explained this phenomenon to them and the other asked how it was triggered. As I demonstrated to her and said ‘like this’, she got exactly what she was looking for, a shock.

I know this happens to almost everybody but few friends have the tendency like I do, I think. One friend shares this excessive charge up quality. He was cautious when we shook hands during a long anticipated reunion at a mall and when I asked ‘static?’ he chuckled and we both laughed. We amused each other with every electric experience we ever had.

A young cousin also told me that he is afraid of walking in a crowded mall where there is a tendency of slight touches. I asked him why and he said he gets sharp and painful ‘electric current’. I taught him to discharge whenever he gets the opportunity.

Is there any way that we can harness this and be special? Somehow I think there is more to this than just a painful shock.

Learn more