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 a current 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.

writes:

As he walked into the building, the carpet ignited from the 40,000
volts of static electricity that had built up.

That is not possible.

"Within about five minutes, the carpet started to erupt," he told
Australian radio.

If it didn't ignite immediately, it would not do so five minutes
later.

His clothes were measured by firemen as carrying a current of 40,000
volts, the Reuters news agency quoted Mr Barton as saying.

The firemen should take lessons in electrical engineering, then,
because electrical currents are not measured in volts.

The fire official added that the charge was close to being high enough
to cause the items to spontaneously combust.

Charges alone do not cause spontaneous combustion of anything.

--
Transpose mxsmanic and gmail to reach me by e-mail.

Don't know what this has to do with rec.travel.europe, but here is a copy of
the report on the ABC radio website.


http://www.abc.net.au/news/items/200...htm?westernvic

Regards

David Bennetts
Australia

He probed him with his 'wiggler' perhaps...?...g

(Wiggler is lineman's slang for an Electro-mechanical magnetic line
voltage tester)

I carry a small and very cheap 'VOM" meter in my own business capable of
measuring up to 50k volts.

Tim K

"Hatunen" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 17 Sep 2005 00:25:28 +0100, DDT Filled Mormons
wrote:

On Fri, 16 Sep 2005 22:56:54 +0200, Mxsmanic
wrote:

writes:

As he walked into the building, the carpet ignited from the 40,000
volts of static electricity that had built up.

That is not possible.

Oh? How can you be sure?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4252692.stm

They seem to think it happened.

And of course news reports are never wrong.

I have a real problem with an article that makes the nonsense
claim that he was carrying a current of 40,000 volts. And I have
trouble trying to figure out what sort of instrument a fireman
carries that can measure 40,000 volts.

************* DAVE HATUNEN ) *************
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
* My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *

DDT Filled Mormons wrote:

On Fri, 16 Sep 2005 16:43:29 -0700, Hatunen wrote:

And of course news reports are never wrong.

Neither is Mixi.

It took you a while to learn that. Are you going to give up arguing
with him?

--
PB
The return address has been MUNGED

On Fri, 16 Sep 2005 22:56:54 +0200, Mxsmanic
wrote:

writes:

As he walked into the building, the carpet ignited from the 40,000
volts of static electricity that had built up.

That is not possible.

"Within about five minutes, the carpet started to erupt," he told
Australian radio.

If it didn't ignite immediately, it would not do so five minutes
later.

His clothes were measured by firemen as carrying a current of 40,000
volts, the Reuters news agency quoted Mr Barton as saying.

The firemen should take lessons in electrical engineering, then,
because electrical currents are not measured in volts.

The fire official added that the charge was close to being high enough
to cause the items to spontaneously combust.

Charges alone do not cause spontaneous combustion of anything.

Maybe you should argue with the source, rather than the
messenger. Here's a different version of the same story:
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/com...5E2862,00.html

Incidentally, next time you're near a technician's workshop,
get them to measure the output and waveforms on your
fingertip. You're in for a surprise.

Cheers, Alan, Australia

....after he finds a wife... In other words...

Tim K

"Magda" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 16 Sep 2005 23:47:31 +0100, in rec.travel.europe, Padraig
Breathnach
arranged some electrons, so they looked like
this :

...
... It took you a while to learn that. Are you going to give up
arguing
... with him?

When he has a child he will.

On Fri, 16 Sep 2005 16:43:29 -0700, Hatunen
wrote:

I have a real problem with an article that makes the nonsense
claim that he was carrying a current of 40,000 volts. And I have
trouble trying to figure out what sort of instrument a fireman
carries that can measure 40,000 volts.

Time for you to do a little basic electrical learning.
Current is measured in amperes, or amps. Voltage is measured
in, er, volts. Current is a dynamic thing, occurring during
discharge in this case. The voltage in static electricity
can be, um, static.

As the reports note, while high voltages are not uncommon
with static electricity, high discharge currents are rare in
such cases. No-one measured the current - they are guessing
it from the consequences.

I do remember the embarrassment in our VIP aircraft in the
'70s when we had just installed a brand-new carpet in a BAC
111. One of the VIPs (pre PC days:-) gave a flight
stewardess a peck on the cheek as he said thanks and
good-bye. He got a severe burn on his lips and she was badly
burnt on the cheek.

Cheers, Alan, Australia

On Fri, 16 Sep 2005 22:56:54 +0200, Mxsmanic
wrote:

writes:

As he walked into the building, the carpet ignited from the 40,000
volts of static electricity that had built up.

That is not possible.

Oh? How can you be sure?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4252692.stm

They seem to think it happened.
--
---
DFM - http://www.deepfriedmars.com
---
--

On Sat, 17 Sep 2005 00:58:37 +0100, DDT Filled Mormons
wrote:

On Sat, 17 Sep 2005 07:45:06 +1000, "David Bennetts"
wrote:

Don't know what this has to do with rec.travel.europe, but here is a copy of
the report on the ABC radio website.


http://www.abc.net.au/news/items/200...htm?westernvic

It is, of course, utter bull****.

This stuff just doesn't happen.
--
---
DFM - http://www.deepfriedmars.com
---
I'm not claiming anything about the news report - but do a
litle research on static electricity. I think you'll be
surprised.




Cheers, Alan, Australia