Sep
20
2005

power suit

Shawn pointed me toward a crazy Reuters story out of Sydney about the ultimate power suit:

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 woolen shirt and a synthetic nylon jacket, was oblivious to the growing electrical current that was building up as his clothes rubbed together…

“We tested his clothes with a static electricity field meter and measured a current of 40,000 volts, which is one step shy of spontaneous combustion, where his clothes would have self-ignited,” [fire official Henry] Barton said.

(Yahoo! News: “Power-dressing man leaves trail of destruction” - 09/16/05)

I have to ask: How do you not notice that you’re building up a deadly static charge? Wouldn’t you feel the charge? Wouldn’t your hair be standing on end?

Tags:
Posted at 11:56 AM in oddities

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Comments

That’s nuts!

Posted by aleja on September 20, 2005 12:44 PM

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