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The nature of the beast
tomsolomon
Posts: 3,613 Forumite
in Techie Stuff
As a follow up to my thread about the dangers of poking things into computers and electrostatic discharge, I thought I'd show this....:D
Frank Clewer, who was wearing a woollen shirt and a synthetic nylon jacket, was oblivious to the growing electrical current that was building up as his clothes rubbed together.
When he walked into a building in the country town of Warrnambool in the southern state of Victoria on Thursday, the electrical charge ignited the carpet.
"It sounded almost like a firecracker", Clewer told Australian radio on Friday.
"Within about five minutes, the carpet started to erupt."
Employees, unsure of the cause of the mysterious burning smell, telephoned firefighters who evacuated the building.
"There were several scorch marks in the carpet, and we could hear a cracking noise -- a bit like a whip -- both inside and outside the building", said fire official Henry Barton.
Firefighters cut electricity to the building thinking the burns might have been caused by a power surge.
Clewer, who after leaving the building discovered he had scorched a piece of plastic on the floor of his car, returned to seek help from the firefighters.
"We tested his clothes with a static electricity field metre and measured a current of 40,000 volts, which is one step shy of spontaneous combustion, where his clothes would have self-ignited," Barton said.
"I've been firefighting for over 35 years and I've never come across anything like this," he said.
Firefighters took possession of Clewer's jacket and stored it in the courtyard of the fire station, where it continued to give off a strong electrical current.
David Gosden, a senior lecturer in electrical engineering at Sydney University, told Reuters that for a static electricity charge to ignite a carpet, conditions had to be perfect.
"Static electricity is a similar mechanism to lightning, where you have clouds rubbing together and then a spark generated by very dry air above them," said Gosden.
Power-dressing Aussie leaves trail of destruction
SYDNEY (Reuters) - An Australian man built up a 40,000-volt charge of static electricity in his clothes as he walked, leaving a trail of scorched carpet and molten plastic and forcing firefighters to evacuate a building.Frank Clewer, who was wearing a woollen shirt and a synthetic nylon jacket, was oblivious to the growing electrical current that was building up as his clothes rubbed together.
When he walked into a building in the country town of Warrnambool in the southern state of Victoria on Thursday, the electrical charge ignited the carpet.
"It sounded almost like a firecracker", Clewer told Australian radio on Friday.
"Within about five minutes, the carpet started to erupt."
Employees, unsure of the cause of the mysterious burning smell, telephoned firefighters who evacuated the building.
"There were several scorch marks in the carpet, and we could hear a cracking noise -- a bit like a whip -- both inside and outside the building", said fire official Henry Barton.
Firefighters cut electricity to the building thinking the burns might have been caused by a power surge.
Clewer, who after leaving the building discovered he had scorched a piece of plastic on the floor of his car, returned to seek help from the firefighters.
"We tested his clothes with a static electricity field metre and measured a current of 40,000 volts, which is one step shy of spontaneous combustion, where his clothes would have self-ignited," Barton said.
"I've been firefighting for over 35 years and I've never come across anything like this," he said.
Firefighters took possession of Clewer's jacket and stored it in the courtyard of the fire station, where it continued to give off a strong electrical current.
David Gosden, a senior lecturer in electrical engineering at Sydney University, told Reuters that for a static electricity charge to ignite a carpet, conditions had to be perfect.
"Static electricity is a similar mechanism to lightning, where you have clouds rubbing together and then a spark generated by very dry air above them," said Gosden.
To travel at the speed of light, one must first become light.....
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Comments
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Nice one!
I remember seeing a TV programme about spontaneous combustion and one of the cases was where a static charge had built up in a woman's clothes and when she accidentally rubbed against something she went up in flames!!!
I wonder what the guy was wearing because I could do with it next time I go to work!:rotfl: It's better to live 1 year as a tiger than a lifetime as a worm...but then, whoever heard of a wormskin rug!!!:rotfl:0 -
In the previous thread you were telling people that changing a fuse was deadly. How we laughed.0
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Wheres the quote idiot.... Where does it say that I said it was dangerous to change a fuse????mascherano wrote: »In the previous thread you were telling people that changing a fuse was deadly. How we laughed.To travel at the speed of light, one must first become light.....0 -
I agree with opinion that this is likely a hoax or certainly an embellishment as there are so many factual errors in the story.
When is voltage a measurement for current?
Since when do thing spontaneously combust because of high voltage (Van de Graaf generators go way beyond 40,000 V)?
Why would a jacket continue to "give off strong current" when it's been discharged and how would you even know? Even if it was 40,000 V then surely the current would actually be extremely low. And things don't "give off current" anyway, they may leak charge but that's not really the same thing.
What on Earth is a static electricity field metre? And even if the Fire Brigade were equipped with such a device (surely at best they would have a fancy multimeter), the measuring process would discharge the jacket."She is quite the oddball. Did you notice how she didn't even get excited when she saw this original ZX-81?"
Moss0 -
superscaper wrote: »I agree with opinion that this is likely a hoax or certainly an embellishment as there are so many factual errors in the story.
When is voltage a measurement for current?
Since when do thing spontaneously combust because of high voltage (Van de Graaf generators go way beyond 40,000 V)?
Why would a jacket continue to "give off strong current" when it's been discharged and how would you even know? Even if it was 40,000 V then surely the current would actually be extremely low. And things don't "give off current" anyway especially as there is no circuit flow for there to be a current, they may leak charge but that's not really the same thing.
What on Earth is a static electricity field metre? And even if the Fire Brigade were equipped with such a device (surely at best they would have a fancy multimeter), the measuring process would discharge the jacket.
Sorry mate but theres no moo poo here.....:D
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4252692.stmTo travel at the speed of light, one must first become light.....0 -
The story is pure fiction. Only an idiot would believe that nonsense0
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All appologies in writing please.......:Dmascherano wrote: »The story is pure fiction. Only an idiot would believe that nonsenseTo travel at the speed of light, one must first become light.....0 -
tomsolomon wrote: »Sorry mate but theres no moo poo here.....:D
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4252692.stm
Just because a news network picks up a popular story, that doesn't make it true. The BBC are not infallible and I'm sure there've been plenty of times they've got it wrong. They've definitely fallen for a few hoaxes in the past. When a story is a hoax that doesn't mean it doesn't get picked up by big networks and they don't always check their facts. Why let the truth get in the way of a good story? The things I pointed out are still true though.
http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Australian_man_allegedly_ignites_carpet,_plastic_with_static_electricity"She is quite the oddball. Did you notice how she didn't even get excited when she saw this original ZX-81?"
Moss0 -
lol nice post superscraper, that just about blows this nonsense out of the water. Strange how people believe this nonsense in the first place. I suppose Tomsolomon really has no idea about electricity, or changing fuses for that matter0
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No mate I'm completely thick and havent been building PC's for 7 years and havent done two years college.mascherano wrote: »lol nice post superscraper, that just about blows this nonsense out of the water. Strange how people believe this nonsense in the first place. I suppose Tomsolomon really has no idea about electricity, or changing fuses for that matter
I suppose you are one of these guys who advertises in the local newspapers no fix no fee no qualifications no idea.....:DTo travel at the speed of light, one must first become light.....0
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