ZAP!

September 16, 2005 11:39 AM

Power-dressing man leaves trail of destruction. 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.
posted by gottabefunky (49 comments total)

We live in a crazy world. The guy was apparently a few volts short of spontaneously combusting.
posted by chunking express at 11:42 AM on September 16, 2005

shocking, I tell you - simply shocking!
posted by jkaczor at 11:43 AM on September 16, 2005

"We tested his clothes with a static electricity field meter and measured a current of 40,000 volts"

Apparently a passing grade in physics is not a prerequisite for becoming a "fire official."
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 11:47 AM on September 16, 2005

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.

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.

This is bullshit, right? "Current of 40,000 volts"? "one step shy of spontaneous combustion"? Why would the jacket "continue to give off a stong current"? Ground it and it's discharged, right?

This smells fishy.
posted by mr_roboto at 11:48 AM on September 16, 2005

Bullshit.
posted by Optimus Chyme at 11:51 AM on September 16, 2005

Am I missing something here? Are you telling me this guy didn't touch a single grounded metal or conductive object before walking into the building? I find it nearly impossible to believe that a person could build up that much of a charge.
posted by spicynuts at 11:53 AM on September 16, 2005

So this is why the Old Testament warns against wearing mixed fibers. Although I doubt that they had acrylics in mind, then.
posted by PurplePorpoise at 11:56 AM on September 16, 2005

And I'm calling bullshit on a wool shirt and nylon jacket. Who the fuck wears that?
posted by Keith Talent at 11:58 AM on September 16, 2005

I find all your skepticism revolting....
posted by Floydd at 11:58 AM on September 16, 2005

This sure does sound like bullshit to me, but the expert quoted in the article does appear to be legitimate.
posted by cerebus19 at 12:00 PM on September 16, 2005

Talk about your electrifying personalities.../groucho
posted by Skygazer at 12:00 PM on September 16, 2005

I'm sure tesla reasonable explanation behind it...
posted by myopicman at 12:07 PM on September 16, 2005

According to this Wikipedia article walking on a carpet can produce between 1,500 to 35,000 volts. So it certainly seems possible...
posted by dwordle at 12:08 PM on September 16, 2005

Insurance fraud.
posted by Pretty_Generic at 12:09 PM on September 16, 2005

Henry Barton checks out, too.
posted by Floydd at 12:11 PM on September 16, 2005

DANGER 50,000 OHMS
posted by alumshubby at 12:17 PM on September 16, 2005

Principal Chases Streaker in Gorilla Mask
posted by Skygazer at 12:18 PM on September 16, 2005

More info in this article.

Oh, and alumshubby, resistance is futile.
posted by Floydd at 12:19 PM on September 16, 2005

This could only be stranger if he took a piss and shot lightning bolts out his pecker.
posted by fenriq at 12:19 PM on September 16, 2005

These people mention that just getting out of a car with the right clothing and conditions can generate 14,000 volts! This guy must have found just the right carseats. See also this for info on static electricity. Seems this 40,000 V claim is not that unusual - but melting the carpet, please.l
posted by aardvarkratnik at 12:19 PM on September 16, 2005

Go! And never darken my towels again!
- Groucho

What a revoltin' set a circumstances this turned out to be.
- Car 54?
posted by hal9k at 12:23 PM on September 16, 2005

Can he bowl reverse swing as well?
posted by firstdrop at 12:33 PM on September 16, 2005

Didn't someone use this sort of thing as a theory of spontaneous combustion as referenced by Dickens?

Just think if this guy hit 1.21 gigawatts!
posted by shoepal at 12:33 PM on September 16, 2005

Dr. Emmett Brown: No no no, this sucker's electrical, but it requires a nuclear reaction to generate the 1.21 gigawatts of electricity I need.

Marty: How about this really powerful sweater?

Dr. Emmett Brown: Eureka!!!
posted by Derek at 12:34 PM on September 16, 2005

Enh, fishy.

But I've also reguarly shocked myself enough on my car door to make my arm numb for a few seconds....
posted by kalimac at 12:36 PM on September 16, 2005

Did he look like this?

posted by Smedleyman at 12:38 PM on September 16, 2005

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.

You don't have to pass high school physics to be a copy editor, either. Static electricity continuing to give off a current? Then it's not static, is it? Perhaps this guy had about 5,000 transistor batteries in his pockets instead...
posted by shepd at 12:44 PM on September 16, 2005

/props to those that get the joke
posted by cleverusername at 12:53 PM on September 16, 2005

From the article Floydd links to:

He said Mr Clewer's clothes were at no stage dangerous because they were low in amps which could be deadly.

Uh-huh. But it melted carpeting. Right.
posted by mr_roboto at 12:54 PM on September 16, 2005

Static = stays in one place. Static Electricity = non-moving electricity right? Therefore, crank the jacket up, we could provide for the worlds energy needs with a couple of pre-loaded jackets. No more pollution, or waste of natural resources. It's like a flywheel, but better!
posted by blue_beetle at 12:54 PM on September 16, 2005

This office is where he burnt the carpet.
posted by Floydd at 12:54 PM on September 16, 2005

Oh my God, myopicman.

...

Why did you have to do that?
posted by dougunderscorenelso at 12:58 PM on September 16, 2005

"We tested his clothes with a static electricity field meter and measured a current of 40,000 volts, "

I wonder what the Voltage was? 100 or so milliAmps?

"which is one step shy of spontaneous combustion, where his clothes would have self-ignited,"

Good thing his shy steps were on carpets.
posted by rough ashlar at 1:04 PM on September 16, 2005

cleverusername, that's not the real Raiden. There can be only one.
posted by Faint of Butt at 1:13 PM on September 16, 2005

Faint of Butt: careful, or us Rayden fans will have to back-back-forward-...
posted by weston at 1:29 PM on September 16, 2005

UGGYBUBBADAY!!!
posted by Faint of Butt at 1:36 PM on September 16, 2005

Faint of Butt, just fyi, the spellings of Rayden and Raiden both appear in MK1. Raiden in the select and fighting sequences, and Rayden in the ending story after beating the game. The movie adopted Rayden because of the research done on the ending stories, and Raiden in the following sequel games because of the developers played the game.

The man you speak of is:


The unproductive debate was about who messed up the spelling in the original.
posted by cleverusername at 1:40 PM on September 16, 2005

Fascinating story. I don't doubt the veracity of it, but rather the knowledge of E&M among the reporters and responders.

40000 V != SCARY!, nor does a Volt == current. Voltage is the big so what. It's current that will kill you or cause fires, which voltage can aid and abet, hence the confusion. Voltage is a measure of potential difference (the steepness of the hill that electrons would flow down, if this were gravity). Note to reporter: current is usually measured in Amps. Volts are a completely different unit. A 120K V power line sits there humming along all day, not killing anyone, generally. (Also, voltage is not a measure of charge. For that, you need Coulombs or the like).

And static electricity is a misnomer. Current == movement of electrons per unit time. Therefore, what is usually thought of as "electricity" can not be static.

And yes, a high enough voltage can (at least in theory) lead to ionization and what not, resulting in currents, that will result in fire, depending on the substance. I have no idea is 40K V is about what would cause a sweater to combust, but I have my doubts.
posted by teece at 1:50 PM on September 16, 2005

He's an X-man, the government just had to come up with a cover so they could take him off to their lab.
posted by 517 at 1:51 PM on September 16, 2005

Can't find a link, but I'm reminded of that ex-empolyee of a technology company who built a high voltage trench coat and entered his previous place of employment, strolling past the computer tape archives that were stored in a hallway and which contained the backups of all the software he had developed, thus erasing them.

He got busted when surveillance tapes identified him as the person who signed the guest book as "D. Gauss"
posted by StickyCarpet at 1:51 PM on September 16, 2005

I don't know about the rest of it, but "a few volts short of spontaneously combusting" is my new favorite phrase to describe crazy people...
posted by InfidelZombie at 2:19 PM on September 16, 2005

StickyCarpet - now that's funny shit.
posted by Moral Animal at 3:02 PM on September 16, 2005

who built a high voltage trench coat and entered his previous place of employment, strolling past the computer tape archives ... thus erasing them

Reality check:

This cannot happen. Maybe with large magnets in his coat and even then, still unlikely.

Also, building up >10kV on clothing or skin is easy in dry climates. Assemble some MOSFET electronics without a grounding strap and you might blow up 1 out of every 10 due to the high voltage static charge buildup. However, the total charge stored is miniscule and therefore will not set fire to carpets, self-combust, etc.

I doubt highly that anybody was able to measure the voltage that was still supposedly on this guy's jacket. The act of measurement alone is enough to drain the charge, even with extremely high impedence DVM's.

Count me extremely tired of the never-ending wacky science stories.
posted by fatllama at 4:47 PM on September 16, 2005

who built a high voltage trench coat and entered his previous place of employment, strolling past the computer tape archives ... thus erasing them

Reality check:

This cannot happen. Maybe with large magnets in his coat and even then, still unlikely.

This did happen. And yes, he did use electromagnets. (So I could have better said "electrified coat" rather than "high voltage", I don't know what voltages were used.)

Make it worth my while and I will track it down for you.
posted by StickyCarpet at 6:04 AM on September 17, 2005

A geography teacher I knew was fond of telling the following WW2 anecdote. He was stationed in the North African desert, and all the squaddies were told that due to the dry conditions, there was significant danger of static buildup in vehicles. Thus, they were instructed to jump cleanly from the back of lorries, and not to touch any metallic part of the vehicle. All went well, until one of his mates decided to take a piss from the back of the lorry, and the stream grounded him.
posted by punilux at 7:37 AM on September 17, 2005

I don't know about the rest of it, but "a few volts short of spontaneously combusting" is my new favorite phrase to describe crazy people...

Thanks InfidelZombie. That's the best laugh out loud I've had today !!
posted by marsha56 at 6:47 PM on September 17, 2005

Maybe he's caught the virus which makes your lungs produce negatively-charged air, causing your body's voltage to rise higher with each exhalation.

"Electric Human" syndrome: lungs as VandeGraaff machine?

Yes, I'm just making it up. If it turns out to be true, my reputation is made!
posted by billb at 7:06 PM on September 17, 2005

Dozens of people spontaneously combust each year. It's just not really widely reported.
posted by dhartung at 11:21 PM on September 17, 2005

Honestly, though, while not necessarily called Raiden, the guy on the far right is the original in my eyes.
posted by mic stand at 7:35 PM on September 18, 2005