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Dimitri Super Member
Joined: Nov 25, 2005 Posts: 5944
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Posted: Thu Apr 22, 2010 4:51 am Post subject: Only in Australia... |
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Man's static jacket sparks alert
An Australian man built up so much static electricity in his clothes as he walked that he burned carpets, melted plastic and sparked a mass evacuation.
Frank Clewer, of the western Victorian city of Warrnambool, was wearing a synthetic nylon jacket and a woollen shirt when he went for a job interview.
As he walked into the building, the carpet ignited from the 40,000 volts of static electricity that had built up.
"It sounded almost like a firecracker or something like that," he said.
"Within about five minutes, the carpet started to erupt," he told Australian radio.
Considerable current
Perplexed firemen evacuated the building and cut its electricity supply, thinking the burns could have been caused by a power surge.
"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.
Mr Clewer said that after leaving the building, he scorched a piece of plastic in his car.
His clothes were measured by firemen as carrying an electrical charge of 40,000 volts, the Reuters news agency quoted Mr Barton as saying.
The fire official added that the charge was close to being high enough to cause the items to spontaneously combust.
"I've been firefighting for over 35 years and I've never come across anything like this," he said. |
_________________ A thousand hills, but no birds in flight, ten thousand paths, with no people's tracks. A lonely boat, a straw-hatted old man, fishing alone in the cold river snow. |
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Suzanne Super Member
Joined: Jun 27, 2009 Posts: 3323 Location: Eugene, Oregon
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Posted: Thu Apr 22, 2010 6:22 am Post subject: Re: Only in Australia... |
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Yeh beans'll do that too.
Suz
_________________ May the moon keep you centered,
May the sun keep you dancing,
And the stars shed light on your dreams. |
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Bushmaster Super Member
Joined: Jun 12, 2005 Posts: 11389 Location: Ava, Missouri
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PaulS Super Member
Joined: Feb 18, 2006 Posts: 4330 Location: South-Eastern Washington - the State
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Posted: Thu Apr 22, 2010 8:54 pm Post subject: Re: Only in Australia... |
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Bushy,
Depending on the local humidity that is a lot of voltage!
It comes close to what a HEI will jump a spark... so be careful, if shake hands with someone who uses a pace-maker - it could kill him!
_________________ Paul
__________________
Speer, Lyman, Hodgdon, Sierra, and Hornady = reliable loading data
So and So's pages on the internet = NOT reliable loading data
Always check data against manuals
NEVER exceed maximum listed loads |
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TRBLSHTR Super Member
Joined: Mar 23, 2007 Posts: 1071 Location: Lower 48's-left coast(near portlandia)
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Pumpkinslinger Super Member
Joined: Sep 22, 2007 Posts: 5001 Location: NC foothills
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Posted: Fri Apr 23, 2010 8:03 pm Post subject: Re: Only in Australia... |
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Seems like I heard somehwere that it takes about 20,000 volts to arc 1 inch...
_________________ Mike
"I ain't no better than anybody else, and there ain't nobody better than me!" Ma Kettle |
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PaulS Super Member
Joined: Feb 18, 2006 Posts: 4330 Location: South-Eastern Washington - the State
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Posted: Fri Apr 23, 2010 8:09 pm Post subject: Re: Only in Australia... |
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Normal air is 3Mv per meter
approximately 3Kv per mm
25mm (1") = 75Kv (75,000 volts)
_________________ Paul
__________________
Speer, Lyman, Hodgdon, Sierra, and Hornady = reliable loading data
So and So's pages on the internet = NOT reliable loading data
Always check data against manuals
NEVER exceed maximum listed loads |
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sniper Super Member
Joined: Aug 18, 2005 Posts: 735 Location: Utah
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Posted: Fri Apr 23, 2010 8:45 pm Post subject: Re: Only in Australia... |
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As I recall, we had a discussion about static electricity in a high school science class:
The teacher had just showed us what rubbing a glass rod with a bit of woolen cloth would do, and said that the same thing could be caused by sliding across a nylon car seat on a cold morning.
One of the guys, "Jughead" Williams, (His real name was Gerald, but only our English teacher called him that.) said: "I can SEE the headline now! COUPLE ELECTROCUTED BY CAR SEAT!"
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