We finally have an answer: The beginning and the end of the sliding motion that produces static electricity experience different forces – resulting in a charge differential between the front and the back that results in the crackle of static electricity.
There are a ton of things that we know how to replicate and sometimes think we know how they work, but being able to see in more detail or with better pattern recognition can lead to further understanding. The best part is the new understanding can lead to all kinds of possible applications, like being able to regulate static electricity by manipulating surfaces to either increase or decrease the amount created.
Heck, this could possibly lead to lighter materials for electrical insulation if the effects are relevant for electrical conduction in general.
Oh for sure, I fully understand that there are tons of things/mechanics we take for granted every day that we don’t actually know how it/they work(s) at the most fundamental level. Static electricity just seemed like a pretty important one that I’d just assumed it was well and thoroughly researched/understood.
Anyway, completely agree with you that this breakthrough is great news and that there are some exciting practical applications that may emerge as a result, particularly the more that model is understood/completed.
Like things we thought we nailed down in the 19th century and haven’t thought to revisit with modern methods and equipment. Then someone decides to look at it again and uncovered a boatload of previously unknown data.
“We thought we understood hiccups, but this changes EVERYTHING!”
(I dunno if hiccups are secretly a scientific black box or not, but you get the idea.)
Fun hiccup fact: the default human state is hiccups, and there’s a small part of the brain that normally suppresses them. There have been rare cases where it’a damaged and someone just… never stops hiccupping. A fate worse than death imo.
If there was ever an argument against intelligent design, it’s shit like this.
