This familiar phenomenon has puzzled researchers for centuries, but experiments are finally making sense of its unruly ...

Seemingly random charging of identical materials depends on the carbonaceous molecules stuck to their surfaces ...

But regardless of where we gather it, the energy itself almost always comes from the sun. Don’t believe me? Let’s think about ...

There’s a shocking lack of understanding of the physics underlying this commonplace phenomenon, but researchers are on the ...

A microscopic layer of environmental carbon solves a long-standing mystery about static electricity's true origins.

The familiar phenomenon has puzzled researchers for centuries, but experiments are finally making sense of its unruly ...

Static electricity may seem simple. Students often learn that rubbing a balloon against their hair will cause negatively ...

Scientists are working to understand how magnetic currents from the sun spread beneath Earth's crust when the northern lights ...

In his latest video, a self-professed “science nerd” and amateur high-energy physicist shows us what happens when you give a ...

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The spark that transfers a charge from one carbon particle to another, generating lightning and possibly life itself, is ...