Static shock

[Tony Hoyle]

For maximum fun charge yourself up as much as possible, get someone else to touch the car door then touch them.

 

[JonB]

I tap the bodywork with a knuckle to discharge the static. Because there are fewer nerve endings in your knuckle, you don't feel the discharge so much. As to clothing, I wear cotton underwear, tee shits and track suit bottoms because I'm a slob. There's very little man made fibres in there. I also wear fleeces, but nopt when driving. Would also note, my previous car did it all the time and it had leather seats. Touching the door shut always works for me, but I keep forgetting to do it!

 

[Adopado]

The only major electrical difference between this car and every previous car I’ve had is that the 12v battery is Lithium, so I wonder if it is somehow the cause.

I'm wracking my brain over how a 12v battery being Lithium could have any influence on static electricity build up ... still thinking ... nope, no I can't come up with any connection! Do you have a hypothesis that might lead us to think differently?

 

[Adopado]

All pretty much correct, manmade clothes rather than natural materials like wool, cotton etc make it much more likely. The fact the seats are plastic certainly won’t help either, nor in the case of young kids the amount of squirming they do generally. It all adds up to static
As someone else pointed out touch the door or framework before landing your feet outside, that should help a lot.

Do you remember some years ago how people used to put conductive strips on their cars that made contact with the road? I've no idea if they actually worked but it was "a thing".

Edit: Good grief ... you can still get them: Halfords Anti Static Strip | Halfords UK

 

[Tony Hoyle]

I'm not really sure how that works when it's the human that is the static source.. although strapping one to your ankle might have the desired effect.

They sell them as anti car-sickness cures as well. That's even more of a headscratcher.

 

[Liquidv]

I get static shocks also, I always close the door by holding the glass door window. Opening the house door with my metal key I can hear the static as it makes contact with the doorlock...

 

[Xdama]

Do you remember some years ago how people used to put conductive strips on their cars that made contact with the road? I've no idea if they actually worked but it was "a thing".

Edit: Good grief ... you can still get them: Halfords Anti Static Strip | Halfords UK

I remember seeing them all the time, thankfully none of my family ever subscribed to that madness. How the hell is a hanging tail that doesn't touch the ground meant to earth out static lol.

To the OP, you can always use the window to shut the car as someone else pointed out. If you don't want fingerprints then you can use your elbow

 

[teaston]

I'm not a physicist or electrical engineer, bit I'm pretty sure it's you, or rather the clothes you wear, and the seat material.

You inevitably slide across the seat when you get out. If you have certain man-made materials in the thing covering your bum, you rub the two surfaces together, generating a static charge. Like hair and a balloon.

This charge has nowhere to go until you earth, there is a potential difference between you and the ground, which you earth as soon as you touch a conductive surface. This is usually your car door.

You'll notice you get the shock getting out, never getting in. Blame the plastic seat material, and whatever you choose to cover your rump. To a certain extent your shoes too I think, if they have really thick soles, again the charge has nowhere to go!

My daughter sits in a cloth child seat, that is on top of a seat protector, so how come her hair was standing on end, Van De Graaf generator style!

 

[geek73]

All pretty much correct, manmade clothes rather than natural materials like wool, cotton etc make it much more likely. The fact the seats are plastic certainly won’t help either, nor in the case of young kids the amount of squirming they do generally. It all adds up to static
As someone else pointed out touch the door or framework before landing your feet outside, that should help a lot.

i've also been getting static shocks getting out of my my new model Y, but strangley never experienced this on my 2019 model 3. same clothes, same interior! not sure what is different between the two cars?

 

[Adopado]

My daughter sits in a cloth child seat, that is on top of a seat protector, so how come her hair was standing on end, Van De Graaf generator style!

Static Electricity - Science World

Have you ever rubbed a balloon on your head? If you have, you may wonder why your hair stood up on end! When you rub a balloon on your head, electrons move from the atoms and molecules in your hair onto the balloon. Electrons have a negative charge, so the balloon becomes negatively charged, and […]

www.scienceworld.ca

 

[teaston]

Static Electricity - Science World

Have you ever rubbed a balloon on your head? If you have, you may wonder why your hair stood up on end! When you rub a balloon on your head, electrons move from the atoms and molecules in your hair onto the balloon. Electrons have a negative charge, so the balloon becomes negatively charged, and […]

www.scienceworld.ca

Exactly, so there’s static in the car attracting her hair up, rather than the static being in her.

 

[Adopado]

Exactly, so there’s static in the car attracting her hair up, rather than the static being in her.

Common enough occurrence but it's going to be a challenge to track down a cause! ... you might have to give in and buy the anti-static strip

 

[JonB]

I remember seeing them all the time, thankfully none of my family ever subscribed to that madness. How the hell is a hanging tail that doesn't touch the ground meant to earth out static lol.

I think they were meant to be mounted so that they dragged along the ground. They had wires and a sacrificial tip that kept the chassis grounded against the road as you drove along. Dunno if they worked or not. Probably not... but I always thought they looked sh1t.

 

[Obliter8]

My daughter sits in a cloth child seat, that is on top of a seat protector, so how come her hair was standing on end, Van De Graaf generator style!

What's the cloth made out of? Man-made fabrics?

 

[Obliter8]

I think they were meant to be mounted so that they dragged along the ground. They had wires and a sacrificial tip that kept the chassis grounded against the road as you drove along. Dunno if they worked or not. Probably not... but I always thought they looked sh1t.

The automotive equivalent of white dog poo...

 

[teaston]

What's the cloth made out of? Man-made fabrics?

Dunno, but it never happened in my previous cars, so I’m pretty sure it’s something to do with the MY.

 

[Xdama]

My daughter sits in a cloth child seat, that is on top of a seat protector, so how come her hair was standing on end, Van De Graaf generator style!

What sort of cloth? Manmade for easy cleaning or cotton? Seat protector made out of plastic, polystyrene, manmade materials all of which probably move slightly whilst you’re driving hence static build up like the ballon analogy someone else said.
In previous cars were the seats leather too, it could be a combination of manmade materials tbf.

 

[Xdama]

I think they were meant to be mounted so that they dragged along the ground. They had wires and a sacrificial tip that kept the chassis grounded against the road as you drove along. Dunno if they worked or not. Probably not... but I always thought they looked sh1t.

It wasn’t rigid so generally when driving just pointed straight out the back, over time the thing turned rigid so never reached the ground anyway lol

 

[Xdama]

i've also been getting static shocks getting out of my my new model Y, but strangley never experienced this on my 2019 model 3. same clothes, same interior! not sure what is different between the two cars?

Different tyres? I’m just guessing as I don’t know much about the Y tbh

 

[geek1975]

Exactly, so there’s static in the car attracting her hair up, rather than the static being in her.

The static that builds up on her will include her hair. Everyhithing (hair and body) has the same charge, so the hair strands are being repelled (from her body and from each other).

This is exactly the same as when I demonstrate the VdG generator at school. There is nothing attracting, it is all repelling.

Apart from the cars I’ve owned with leather seats, all my other cars have given me static to a greater/lesser degree. But it is generally the combination of materials, duration of the journey and the level of humidity in the air that determines the extent (between the occasional tingling feeling to seeing a bright spark at night)