Deang Posted September 18, 2005 Share Posted September 18, 2005 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 woolen 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 Thursday, the electrical charge ignited the carpet. "It sounded almost like a firecracker," Clewer told Australian radio 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 meter 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richieb Posted September 18, 2005 Share Posted September 18, 2005 I would see no need for a business card with that kind of entrance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt1stcav Posted September 19, 2005 Share Posted September 19, 2005 That must've been one helluva shocking experience for all the bystanders. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r.cherry Posted September 19, 2005 Share Posted September 19, 2005 hope he had a good supply of bean-o[6] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxg Posted September 20, 2005 Share Posted September 20, 2005 ah - the capacity of man. Not sure about the "current of 40,000" volts though - current should be in amps, potential difference is 40,000 volts. Would be interesting to know what the current actually was as he crossed the floor and melted the carpet (which probably makes him a cross-over capacitor). Dean - you should emloy the guy - I wonder if he would fit in the back of a KHorn? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oscarsear Posted September 20, 2005 Share Posted September 20, 2005 I thought that you picked up static charge from walking on carpet. Where's the discharge pathway for either the carpet or the plastic? I could understand the guy maybe blowing off a door upon discharging to the metal handle....something screwy here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colterphoto1 Posted September 20, 2005 Share Posted September 20, 2005 That reminds me of a sign my Dad used to have in his office. It read: DANGER 10,000 Ohms. If you don't get it, you won't. Michael Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragonfyr Posted September 20, 2005 Share Posted September 20, 2005 This entire story has me wondering..... Too many years ago in high school I had a part time Quality Control job testing the flammability of carpet. Aside from being incredibly exciting, we would place flammable tablets on carpet samples and observe and document the spread. The amazing thing is that carpet 'hardly' burns! It may melt in the presence of heat, but I think the most exciting 'out of control' experience I ever saw after some 100,000+ samples was a runaway 2.5 inch burn pattern! The norm being a spot measuring approximately 1" in diameter based upon the size of the 3/8" diameter flammable pellet that burned for 3 minutes. We even had some pellets that burned for 5 minutes for use in larger sampled measurements. Whoopee! Now you can lay a soldering iron on carpet and it will not burn. It may melt, but it is not going to spontaneously combust! Not only does the material not support it, the chemicals incorporated to prohibit such flammability don't like it either! I only wish I had encountered flammable carpet! It would have radically transformed an otherwise incredibly boring task! But it does give new meaning to someone with an electrifying personality! I wonder what would have been the effect if he had had a magnetic personality![] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speedball Posted September 20, 2005 Share Posted September 20, 2005 Spend a little of that quality time here at the forum Dean and quit reading the National Enquirer.[] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myhamish Posted September 20, 2005 Share Posted September 20, 2005 - nothing like making an ash out of yourself in public - Hamish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olorin Posted September 20, 2005 Share Posted September 20, 2005 This story has sure sparked a rash of bad puns. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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