ISTA team traces 2,600-year static-electricity mystery to airborne carbon dust

Static electricity is a phenomenon we frequently encounter in everyday life, yet its underlying cause has long remained a scientific mystery. For more than 2,600 years, scientists have debated what sparks the flashes when you pull off a sweater or the sharp jolt you feel when you grab a doorknob. A recent study has now uncovered a crucial clue to the secret of static electricity.

Static electricity is an electric field created by charges that remain at rest on the surface of an object. Since around 600…