Car Electricity Questions - Get Answers Now!

[CmdrSpock]

Hello, I have generally questions here, so I hope, that you will help me

1. How can a moving car become positively charged?
2. If I touch the door of a charged car, sometimes I get something like a shock. Why does it happen?

I would appreciate it, if you will answer me.
Thanks in advance

 

[berkeman]

Hello, I have generally questions here, so I hope, that you will help me

1. How can a moving car become positively charged?
2. If I touch the door of a charged car, sometimes I get something like a shock. Why does it happen?

I would appreciate it, if you will answer me.
Thanks in advance

Here's a good long explanation of the effect with respect to your clothes and your car seat:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/dna/place-lancashire/plain/A6378744

There can also be a mechnism with an object moving through the air causing a buildup of static charge, but I think that effect only comes into play with much faster movement than a car through the air (like with helicopter rotor blades, where static buildup is a very serious problem).

 

[Drakkith]

There's also the possibility that it's your body that's charged and not the car.

 

[NascentOxygen]

I believe tyre manufacturers add carbon powder to their rubber compound to make it conductive so that any static charge soon leaks away to earth.